Short answer: not yet in large numbers, but the first real factory trials are underway. On October 13, South Korea cleared 20 humanoid robots to work alongside people at four companies, and Shanghai has set a goal of 8,000 humanoids in factories by 2028. The industry’s own trade group says most humanoids are still prototypes, so the near-term risk is to specific repetitive, physical tasks rather than whole factory workforces.
Key takeaways
- South Korea gave the robot maker Robros a regulatory exemption to run 20 two-legged humanoids beside workers, without the usual safety fences, under risk assessments and extra safety rules.
- Shanghai’s new manufacturing plan targets 8,000 factory humanoids by 2028. That is a goal, not a result.
- Ordinary industrial robots are the bigger story today: factories installed 603,307 of them in 2025, a record, including 38,428 in the United States.
- The International Federation of Robotics says most humanoids “remain prototypes or pilot-stage technologies,” and regular robot arms are still more economical for most factory work.
- Past research links more robots to fewer jobs and lower wages in exposed local areas, especially for workers without a college degree.
What did South Korea approve for humanoid robots?
What happened: On October 13, a South Korean industry ministry committee granted a “regulatory sandbox” exemption to Robros, a Korean maker of humanoid robots that walk on two legs. A regulatory sandbox is a temporary waiver that lets a company test something current rules do not allow. Korea’s safety rules were written for robots bolted in place, and they require fences or barriers between robots and people. This trial lets humanoids work in the same space as staff, as long as the companies carry out risk assessments and follow added safety measures, according to Seoul Economic Daily and TechSpot.
The 20 robots are split across four employers. At chip packager Nepes, they clean semiconductor packaging parts. At auto supplier Sungwoo Hitech, they place car body parts. At shipbuilder HD Hyundai Samho, they stack scaffolding pieces. At Delivery Lab, they move refrigerated packages. Trade and Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said, “AI technology is advancing so fast that regulation struggles to keep up.” The government says it will use data from the trial to rewrite its robot safety rules more broadly.
Why it matters: Fences have been one of the main things keeping robots and people apart on factory floors. If regulators decide humanoids can safely share space with workers, robots can be dropped into existing lines built for humans. That is the whole sales pitch for the humanoid shape.
The other side: This is 20 robots in a supervised test, not a rollout. Korea’s government frames humanoids as an answer to factory labor shortages. Hanyang University robotics professor Han Jae-kwon told Seoul Economic Daily, “What matters is expanding these pilots to accumulate behavioral data such as how skilled workers move.” In other words, part of the point is for robots to learn from the very workers whose tasks they may later take on.
How many humanoid robots are actually working in factories?
Very few, and most public numbers are targets. The table separates what has happened from what has only been announced.
| Project | Scale | Status |
|---|---|---|
| BMW Spartanburg, South Carolina (Figure 02) | Helped build 30,000+ BMW X3s over about 10 months, moving 90,000+ parts | Completed pilot (2025) |
| BMW Leipzig, Germany (Hexagon AEON) | Battery and component work | Pilot phase from summer 2026 |
| South Korea (Robros) | 20 robots at 4 companies | Approved trial (Oct. 13, 2026) |
| Hyundai Georgia plant (Boston Dynamics Atlas) | Parts sequencing first, assembly by 2030 | Plan, starting 2028 |
| Shanghai factories | 8,000 humanoids | Target for 2028 |
The BMW example is the strongest real-world evidence so far. According to BMW, a single Figure robot worked ten-hour shifts, five days a week, lifting sheet metal parts into position for welding. BMW says its goal with humanoids is “to relieve employees and further improve working conditions,” and its release gives no figures on jobs gained or lost.
Productivity is still a question mark. TechSpot reports that Chinese maker UBTech said early this year that its Walker S2 humanoids reached only 30% to 50% of human productivity.
What is Shanghai’s 8,000 humanoid robot plan?
What happened: Shanghai announced a smart manufacturing plan at the opening of the China International Industry Fair, reported by Chinese media on October 13. By 2028 it aims for 500 advanced smart factories, more than 2,000 AI uses in manufacturing, and 8,000 humanoid robots in factories, according to Seoul Economic Daily.
Why it matters: China already dominates factory automation. It installed 354,226 industrial robots in 2025, more than half the world total, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). A city-level humanoid target signals that the same push is moving to robots shaped like people.
The other side: Government targets often run ahead of reality. Even 8,000 humanoids would be small next to the hundreds of thousands of conventional robots China adds each year.
How many factory robots are being installed in 2026?
Humanoids get the headlines, but plain robot arms do most of the work. The IFR’s World Robotics 2026 report, released September 24, found that the number of industrial robots operating worldwide hit a record 5 million in 2025.
| Market | New industrial robots installed in 2025 |
|---|---|
| World | 603,307 (up 11%) |
| China | 354,226 (up 20%) |
| United States | 38,428 (up 12%) |
| Japan | About 36,200 |
| South Korea | About 30,200 |
| World forecast, 2026 | 655,000 (up 9%) |
Do robots take jobs? What the research says
The best-known U.S. study is by economists Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo, published through the National Bureau of Economic Research. Looking at 1990 to 2007, they found that one more robot per thousand workers reduced the employment-to-population ratio by 0.18 to 0.34 percentage points and was associated with wages 0.25% to 0.5% lower in affected local areas. The hardest-hit groups were workers without college degrees and people in routine manual, blue-collar and assembly jobs.
Two caveats matter. The study measured older, fixed industrial robots, not humanoids or AI. And the authors cautioned that net effects are hard to measure, because jobs may be created elsewhere in the economy.
The other side: labor shortages, safety and union pushback
Companies say humanoids will take the worst jobs, not good ones. Hyundai says Atlas will take on higher-risk, repetitive work and reduce physical strain. Reuters reported that Hyundai vice chair Jaehoon Chang argued people will still be needed to maintain and train the robots. Many of the target tasks, such as heavy lifting and cold storage, have real injury risks and hiring trouble.
Workers are not convinced. Hyundai’s union in South Korea warned that no robot using new technology would be allowed into the workplace without a labor-management agreement, and that deploying them without its approval would cause “employment shocks,” according to Reuters via Just Auto. In the United States, UAW president Shawn Fain called AI-powered humanoids a “profound threat,” and told the union’s convention that “Human beings have to come first in this equation, not an afterthought,” as reported by Moneywise.
The TrustNoRobot Risk Check
| Question | Humanoid robots and factory jobs |
|---|---|
| Exposure | Narrow but real. Repetitive material handling, parts placement, sorting and loading in auto, electronics, shipbuilding and logistics. |
| Evidence | Moderate. Strong research on older robots and jobs. Only a handful of humanoid pilots, with little public data on headcount effects. |
| Speed | Slow to medium. Most big plans start in 2028 or later. Conventional robot installs are growing about 9% to 11% a year. |
| Cushion | Mixed. Labor shortages, safety rules, unions and high costs slow adoption. But almost 90% of U.S. workers have no union, and safety fences are already being waived for trials. |
What this means for you
If you work in a factory or warehouse, ask which of your tasks are repetitive, physical and done in the same spot every shift. Those are the first targets. Skills in robot upkeep, quality checks and problem solving on the line are harder to replace, and companies say they will need more of them.
To size up your own risk, try our Job Exposure Explorer and the five-step guide to measuring AI risk to your job. For how companies talk about automation when they cut staff, read our look at the HubSpot layoffs.
Frequently asked questions
Are humanoid robots replacing factory workers in 2026?
Not at scale. Humanoids are in pilots, such as 20 robots in South Korea and earlier BMW trials. The industry group IFR says most remain prototypes or pilot-stage technology.
What jobs are humanoid robots doing?
Mostly repetitive handling: placing car body parts, loading sheet metal for welding, stacking ship scaffolding, cleaning chip parts and moving refrigerated packages.
How many industrial robots were installed in 2025?
603,307 worldwide, up 11%, according to the IFR. China installed 354,226 and the United States installed 38,428.
Do robots reduce jobs and wages?
In exposed areas, yes. A major NBER study of 1990 to 2007 linked one more robot per thousand workers to a lower employment rate and wages 0.25% to 0.5% lower, though total effects across the economy are harder to measure.
Sources
- Seoul Economic Daily, “Korea Clears Safety Rules to Put 20 Humanoid Robots on Factory Floors” (Oct. 14, 2026)
- Seoul Economic Daily, “Shanghai Targets 8,000 Humanoid Robots in Factories by 2028” (Oct. 14, 2026)
- TechSpot, “South Korea removes safety barriers to let humanoid robots work alongside humans in factories” (Oct. 15, 2026)
- International Federation of Robotics, “Five million robots now operate in factories globally” (Sept. 24, 2026)
- International Federation of Robotics, World Robotics 2026 Executive Summary: Industrial Robots (Sept. 2026)
- BMW Group, “BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time” (Feb. 27, 2026)
- Reuters via Yahoo, “Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy humanoid robots at US factory from 2028” (Jan. 5, 2026)
- Just Auto via Yahoo Finance, “Korean labour union sounds jobs warning over humanoid robots” (Jan. 22, 2026)
- Moneywise, “UAW president Shawn Fain calls AI-powered humanoid robots a ‘profound threat’” (Aug. 6, 2026)
- NBER Digest, “Robots and Jobs in the US Labor Market” (Acemoglu and Restrepo, Working Paper 23285) (May 2017)
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