Intro
Agile Robots was co-founded by Dr. ZhaoPeng Chen, a robotics scientist formerly at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and Prof. Oussama Khatib, the world renowned director of the Stanford Robotics Lab and a pioneer of human-robot interaction and operational-space control. Their combined expertise — Chen's highly applied mechatronics and control engineering, and Khatib’s foundational robotics research — set the scientific foundations that positioned Agile Robots as a high-credibility, high-tech European robotics company from day one. The company’s founding vision was to merge human-centric robotic intelligence with safe, precise, and industrial-grade hardware.
Agile Robots grew out of this deep research background and quickly evolved into a full-stack robotics company building hardware, software, control systems, and AI perception under one roof. From the start, the founders emphasized that true embodied intelligence requires tight integration between actuation, sensing, control theory, and AI — a philosophy visible across all of Agile Robots’ products. As the company expanded, it established its main engineering hub in Munich while setting up satellite centers in China and India, enabling both advanced R&D and scalable manufacturing.
Since its registration as Agile Robots SE in 2024, the company has been on an aggressive growth trajectory. Under Dr. Chen’s leadership as CEO, the company invested heavily in expanding its Munich headquarters, hiring large engineering teams, and building a European production ecosystem. In 2025, Agile Robots unveiled its milestone product, Agile ONE, a full-body humanoid robot designed for industrial and logistics environments — an achievement that reflects the founders’ long-term goal of bridging academic robotics with real-world commercial applications.
The company’s strategic intent is shaped by Chen and Khatib’s shared belief that humanoid robots will operate seamlessly in human-designed environments, taking on tasks where traditional industrial robots fall short. Their objectives include creating robust humanoid platforms, delivering industry-ready AI-driven automation systems, and building an ecosystem of hardware + software + integration services. Early achievements such as Agile ONE, rapid global expansion, and strong industry interest show that the founders’ academic-to-commercial translation strategy is taking hold — positioning Agile Robots as one of Europe’s most ambitious entrants in the humanoid robotics space.
Robots
- Agile ONE:
Agile Robots' first industrial humanoid platform. Designed to emulate human proportions and multi-DOF motion; the company emphasizes that both hardware and AI control stacks were developed in-house and that production is planned in Germany. - Diana 7:
A high-performance 7-DoF robotic arm designed for precision tasks requiring dexterity and human-like reach. It features lightweight construction, high repeatability, and sensitive force control, making it suitable for electronics assembly, medical assistance, research labs, and collaborative industrial workflows. - Yu 5 Industrial:
The Yu 5 series consists of versatile 5-kg-payload collaborative industrial manipulators built for reliability, speed, and safe human-robot interaction. With advanced collision detection, precise motion control, and flexible mounting configurations, Yu 5 arms are used in manufacturing, inspection, small-parts handling, and general automation.
Specialism
- Full-Stack In-House Development:
Agile Robots designs and manufactures its own hardware, firmware, actuators, control systems, AI perception stack, and software platform (AgileCore) entirely in-house, including all production at its own facilities in Germany, China, and India, without external contract manufacturing dependency. - Force-Controlled Sensitive Actuation:
The company's foundational research heritage from DLR has resulted in robot systems centred on joint-level torque sensing, compliant force control, and collision detection, enabling safe and precise co-working in close proximity to human operators. - Agile Hand Dexterous End-Effector Technology:
The Agile Hand, with 21 joints per hand and full joint-level force and tactile sensing, represents the most technically complex subsystem in the Agile ONE and is positioned by the company as the world's most dexterous robotic hand at the time of launch. - Physical AI Industrial Foundation Model:
Agile ONE's Robot Foundation Model is trained on real-world production floor data, simulation, and teleoperation data rather than purely synthetic or lab-generated datasets, giving it practical industrial task generalisation that pure simulation-trained models have struggled to match. - "Made in Bavaria" Manufacturing:
All Agile ONE production is planned to take place at the company's own German facility, providing EU-standard quality assurance, supply chain transparency, and regulatory compliance for European industrial customers
Business Viability
Funding and Financial Position
Agile Robots has raised a confirmed total of approximately USD 250 million across funding rounds, with the most recent disclosed round being the USD 220 million Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in September 2021, at which point the company was valued at USD 1 billion. No subsequent public funding rounds have been confirmed. However, the company reported annual revenue of approximately EUR 65.9 million in December 2023 and approximately EUR 200 million in 2024, the latter representing year-on-year doubling consistent with its stated growth trajectory since founding. With more than 20,000 robots deployed and over EUR 200 million in 2024 revenue, Agile Robots appears to be generating substantial commercial income from its existing manipulator product lines independent of venture funding.
Revenue Model
Agile Robots' primary revenue model is hardware product sales across its manipulator, collaborative robot, and AMR product lines to industrial customers in automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. The company's AgileCore software platform and integration services represent additional recurring revenue streams. The addition of Krause Automation's project-based systems integration business through the thyssenkrupp acquisition introduces a substantial engineering services and turnkey automation revenue stream. Agile ONE pricing has not been publicly disclosed, and the humanoid platform is expected to contribute to revenue from 2026 as production scales.
Customer and Deployment Base
Agile Robots has deployed more than 20,000 robots across its product lines as of the time of the thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering acquisistion announcement (November 2025). Its customers span the consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. Specific named customers have not been publicly disclosed in detail, though the Series C press release confirmed strategic cooperation with multiple Chinese and international healthcare providers, top neurosurgery robot companies, and leading consumer electronics manufacturers. The Franka Robotics subsidiary has a well-established academic and research customer base globally, with the FR3 being one of the most widely adopted force-sensitive research cobots in university robotics laboratories worldwide.
Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations
SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Hillhouse Group, BOCOM International, CMB International Capital, and C-Ventures (led by Adrian Cheng) form the core investor and strategic partnership base. The thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering acquisition (completed April 2026, rebranded Krause Automation) provides direct access to long-standing OEM relationships in the international automotive industry, an engineering talent base of 650 specialists, and a 10-location European and North American distribution and integration network. The audEERING acquisition added AI voice recognition and emotional intelligence capability that is integrated into the human-robot interaction systems across the product line. Agile Robots confirmed participation in Hannover Messe (HMI) 2026, showcasing Agile ONE alongside Franka Robotics, signalling active pursuit of European enterprise customer relationships.
"Now is the right time to combine AI, robotics, and industrial expertise. Physical AI offers enormous productivity leaps to industrial producers.Together with thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, we are perfectly positioned to drive the next industrial revolution - and to do that from Germany."
- Zhaopeng Chen, founder and CEO of Agile Robots.
Intellectual Property
Agile Robots holds proprietary IP across its AgileCore software platform, joint-level torque control and compliance algorithms, the Agile Hand mechanical design and sensing architecture, and the Robot Foundation Model training methodology. The Diana 7 and FR3 (Franka) force-sensitive arm designs include patented torque sensor and joint actuation technologies originating from DLR research. The audEERING acquisition added audio AI and emotional signal processing IP. Full-stack in-house manufacturing means actuator and mechanical design IP is retained internally and not licensed to third-party manufacturers.
Market Position and Competitive Advantage
Within the European industrial robotics landscape, Agile Robots occupies a unique position as the only company combining a decade-long track record in force-sensitive industrial manipulators with a credible humanoid product and a significant acquisitive growth strategy. The thyssenkrupp acquisition gives it a scale and OEM customer access that most European robotics startups have not achieved. Globally, Agile ONE is positioned as Europe's primary industrial humanoid offering, contrasting with US-centric humanoids from Figure AI and Agility Robotics, and Chinese humanoids from AgiBot and Unitree. The EUR 200 million 2024 revenue base, achieved from existing product lines before Agile ONE enters production, provides a financial stability foundation that is atypical for a company simultaneously launching its first humanoid.
Leadership and Team
Dr. Zhaopeng Chen is Co-Founder and CEO, and has led the company from its founding in 2018 through all major milestones including the Series C, product launches, and the thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering acquisition. Peter Meusel is Co-Founder and brings over 30 years of experience in torque sensor and robot design from DLR. The founding and core engineering team is composed predominantly of DLR alumni, providing a deep research and precision engineering foundation. Total headcount exceeds 2,500 employees from approximately 60 nationalities as of April 2026, spanning Germany, China, India, and 10 newly added European and North American locations.
Awards and Recognition
Agile Robots selected to exhibit Agile ONE at Hannover Messe (HMI) 2026, one of the world's most prominent industrial technology trade fairs. The company's Diana 7 and force-sensitive robot technology have been referenced in academic and industry publications as benchmark examples of commercially viable compliant manipulation. Franka Robotics' FR3 is one of the most widely published-on research cobots in academic robotics literature globally.
Risks and Challenges
Agile ONE is in early production as of this audit, with no publicly confirmed commercial customer deployments at scale. The technical and commercial transition from a proven manipulator and cobot business to a humanoid platform involves materially different sales cycles, integration complexity, and customer validation requirements. The EUR 200 million 2024 revenue is generated almost entirely from non-humanoid products; Agile ONE revenue contributions remain unconfirmed. The thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering acquisition, while strategically sound, introduces significant integration risk given the scale of the added headcount and geographic footprint. The company's last disclosed valuation was USD 1 billion from the 2021 Series C, it is not known whether the company has been valued at a higher figure since, and no new funding round has been publicly announced. In the broader humanoid market, Agile ONE faces competition from better-capitalised US humanoid companies, rapidly scaling Chinese humanoid producers with lower cost structures, and established industrial robot integrators who are developing their own humanoid platforms.
Expansion and Outlook
Agile Robots' near-term expansion priorities are the volume production ramp of Agile ONE in Bavaria from early 2026, integration of Krause Automation's European and North American operations, and the strengthening of its US market presence through Krause Automation's existing OEM relationships. Longer-term, the company has signalled intent to expand Agile ONE into consumer electronics, medical technology, and intralogistics sectors beyond its core automotive and precision manufacturing focus. The company's participation in HMI 2026 and stated positioning as a "partner of choice for industries worldwide" indicate active enterprise customer acquisition in the European and global industrial markets. Revenue doubling from EUR 65.9 million in 2023 to EUR 200 million in 2024, if sustained, would imply a substantial revenue base even before Agile ONE reaches commercial scale.
