Welcome, AIR!
AIR is a wheeled humanoid from Embodied AI, designed for factory environments where robots and people share working space. Its soft exterior and lightweight, compliant arms prioritize physical interaction without a safety cage. The robot stands 160 centimeters tall, weighs 65 kilograms, and has a listed maximum speed of 3 kilometers per hour. Its arms use electric actuators and tendon transmission, while gripping claws with two fingers provide the contact interface for handling goods and components. Listed strength is 10 kilograms. AIR supports obstacle avoidance, sorting goods, and assembling products, placing its practical focus on movement through industrial spaces and manipulation at workstations. Its overall Humanoid Guide score of 3 out of 10 reflects a developing platform rather than a mature general purpose worker. Navigation is rated 1 out of 5 and manipulation 2 out of 5. These ratings distinguish its current capability tiers from its physical specifications and position AIR as a developing option for targeted manufacturing tasks.
AIR combines onboard inference with remote teleoperation and an AI stack developed by Embodied AI. A vision language model orchestrates compact multimodal policies trained through imitation learning, connecting visual understanding with task execution. Learning from teleoperated shifts provides a route for teaching work routines through human demonstrations. For sorting goods, its gripping claws and compliant arms provide the hardware for handling items, while obstacle avoidance supports movement around the workspace. Product assembly is another supported capability, making component handling and placement relevant industrial applications. These functions define a focused combination of mobile navigation and manipulation, with a stronger manipulation rating than navigation rating in its current assessment.
AIR is listed as in production, with a price of USD 50,000. Embodied AI is a Swiss startup based in Lausanne, with an office in Rome and roots at EPFL. The company has a team of 25 people and unveiled AIR at Humanoid Europe 2026 in Munich. NVIDIA is listed as a partner, alongside the platform’s emphasis on onboard inference. CE marking is planned for 2027, distinguishing that future milestone from the robot’s current production status. AIR’s broader significance lies in combining soft mechanical construction, wheeled mobility, and learning from human demonstrations in a factory platform. Its development illustrates an approach centered on specific industrial tasks rather than broad claims of universal autonomy.
