Opening our humanoid research programme

We are formally opening a dedicated research programme into humanoid systems — robots built in a human form. It's one of the hardest problems in robotics, and we're going into it with eyes open.

Why a human form at all

The world is built for people. Spaces, doorways, vehicles, tools and equipment are all shaped around the human body. A machine with roughly that shape can, in principle, work in those places and with those things where wheeled or tracked systems cannot.

That is the promise — and it's a big “in principle.” Realising it is genuinely difficult.

The hard parts

Our programme is focused on the fundamentals that make humanoids viable:

• Locomotion and balance — walking, recovering and staying upright on real ground.
• Perception and navigation — understanding a space and moving through it with purpose.
• Safe operation — behaving predictably around human teams.

We're treating this as a long-horizon effort. The point is to do it properly, not quickly.

Honest about the horizon

This is research, and we'll describe it as research. We think the potential for defence and military roles is significant enough to invest early — and to build the expertise in India while the field is still young.