On Jan. 22, Louisiana's economic development agency and St. Bernard-based SSE Steel Fabrication announced an agreement with Houston-based tech startup Persona AI to launch a pilot program at SSE to develop humanoid robotics for industrial uses. Greater New Orleans Inc., southeast Louisiana's economic development nonprofit, also is participating.

With stats like that, one can’t help but suspect that the first country to have a million humanoids will be China.

Boston Dynamics latest Atlas humanoid robot is big, strong, and increasingly smart, thanks to Google. The company has plans to ship up to 30,000 per year.

Their partnership will trial Walker S2 humanoid robots in aircraft manufacturing, signalling a global push into industrial automation.

Humans are desperate to put the robots to work. The only problem is, the robots don’t “work” to any degree. These humanoid bots are interesting. Some are even cute. Few, if any, are anywhere close to prime time. It was a dour scene at CES 2026, so much so I can’t help but wonder if they ever will be.

Airbus ordered UBTech’s Walker S2, a full-size humanoid that stands 176 cm tall (5’9"), weighs 70 kg (154 lbs), and walks at about two meters/second (4.5 mph). It has dextrous hands with 11 degrees of freedom and tactile sensors, and can hold 7.5 kg (16.5 lbs) in each hand and 1 kg (2.2 lbs) with each finger.

Hyundai Motor Group showed off Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot at CES earlier this month. The company said it plans to build a factory capable of producing

The humanoid robot industry is influenced by evolving needs in personal assistance, healthcare, and industrial automation. Trends such as