Agile Robots tests mobile humanoids on Audi's Ingolstadt parts sequencing, a million picks a day
Agile Robots, Audi, Dassault Systèmes and NVIDIA said on Oct 21 at GTC Berlin that Agile Robots' mobile humanoids are picking parts from containers and placing them in assembly sequence in Audi's Production Lab in Ingolstadt, a proof of concept for a task Audi says runs to about one million picks a day.
No timeline for series use, unit numbers or contract value were disclosed.
Agile Robots said in a press release on Oct 21, issued in Berlin with Audi, Dassault Systèmes and NVIDIA, that its mobile humanoids have started a proof of concept for parts sequencing at Audi's Ingolstadt plant. In Audi's Production Lab, the robots take parts out of material containers and place them in the order final assembly needs them. Audi says its sequencing operations handle about one million picks every day.
What the four partners each bring
Audi's supply-chain team sets the operating requirements. Before robots enter the intralogistics area, a virtual twin is built in Dassault Systèmes' DELMIA on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, using NVIDIA Omniverse libraries, to test feasibility, timing, ergonomics and safety. Dassault said its AI assistant LEO is meant to cut that engineering work from months to days. The companies did not give a date for moving beyond the lab, a robot count or any financial terms.
Why sequencing is the test
Audi production board member Gerd Walker said picking inside the sequencing process has resisted automation for decades. The release names the two causes: high-variant or semi-rigid parts, and unsorted components in mixed containers. Agile Robots' answer is a dual-arm humanoid upper body on a mobile base working at human height, so the existing racks and containers do not have to change.
The company behind it
Agile Robots, founded in Munich in 2018 by researchers from the German Aerospace Center, says it has more than 20,000 robotic solutions deployed and about 3,500 employees, with subsidiaries Franka Robotics, idealworks, BÄR Automation and Krause Automation. In MEKAWIRE's database its last disclosed round is a $220 million Series C in September 2021; it signed a Gemini Robotics partnership with Google DeepMind in March and a physical-AI partnership with Hitachi on Sep 29. On the same day as the Audi release, NVIDIA named Agile ONE SN, due in early 2027, as the reference humanoid for its Isaac platform.
MEKAWIRE analysis
The Audi project matters less as a humanoid order than as a test of whether a German carmaker will let simulation sign off a humanoid workstation before it is built.
The evidence for that reading is in how much of the release is about the virtual twin rather than the robot. The counter-argument is that proofs of concept in carmakers' labs are common and rarely state volume. The signals to watch are a move from the Production Lab to a live sequencing line, any unit number from Audi, and first deliveries of Agile ONE SN in early 2027.
- Audi Production Lab, Ingolstadt plant
- Picking parts from containers and placing them in sequence for final assembly
- Agile Robots, Audi, Dassault Systèmes, NVIDIA
- Oct 21, 2026, joint release at NVIDIA GTC Berlin
- Virtual twin in DELMIA on 3DEXPERIENCE with NVIDIA Omniverse libraries
- Founded 2018 in Munich; more than 20,000 robotic solutions deployed; about 3,500 staff
- Timeline for series use, robot count, contract value
- About one million picks per day at Audi (company figure)
Why it matters
Parts sequencing is one of the few intralogistics tasks where carmakers still rely heavily on manual picking, because parts vary and arrive unsorted. If a humanoid upper body on a mobile base can work in existing racks, carmakers avoid rebuilding stations for fixed automation. Audi's own figure of about one million picks a day shows the size of the work pool, although the release gives no share that robots would take.
Rival analysis
Several humanoid makers have announced pilots with carmakers without disclosing fleet numbers, so a lab proof of concept is not yet an order. Agile Robots differs in owning a wider industrial portfolio (Franka arms, idealworks AMRs) and in being NVIDIA's named reference humanoid, which may help it sell into German plants already using Omniverse.
Signals to watch
A move from Audi's Production Lab to a production sequencing area; any robot count; Agile ONE SN deliveries in early 2027; further Volkswagen Group plants named.
Questions you should be asking
How many sequencing picks per hour does the humanoid reach versus a worker? Which parts families are in scope? Who carries safety certification for a mobile dual-arm robot near workers?