Historic Partnership with QSS AI & Robotics Targets 10,000 Robot Deployment Across Saudi Arabia by 2030
In a landmark development for the Middle East robotics industry, UK-based AI and robotics company Humanoid has launched the region’s first dedicated humanoid robotics showroom in Riyadh, partnering with Saudi Arabia’s QSS AI & Robotics to establish what organizers describe as a gateway for businesses to experience advanced automation firsthand. The “Humanoid Lounge,” now open to the public at QSS’s Riyadh headquarters, features live demonstrations, educational workshops, and direct human-robot interaction experiences showcasing the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled, Britain’s first industrial humanoid robot.
The showroom opening marks the culmination of a strategic partnership announced in October 2025 that positions Humanoid for aggressive expansion across the Kingdom. The companies have established a pre-order framework for up to 10,000 humanoid units over five years, one of the largest commitments to humanoid robotics deployment in the Middle East, with QSS overseeing local assembly at the Riyadh Robotics Factory for rapid deployment across manufacturing, logistics, energy, retail, and public infrastructure sectors.
This partnership represents a significant milestone in the global commercialization of humanoid robotics, demonstrating how Western robotics innovation combined with Middle Eastern manufacturing capabilities and government backing can accelerate the transition from research prototypes to large scale industrial deployment. As the humanoid robot market surges toward projected growth of $15.26 billion by 2030, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as the regional hub for advanced robotics under its Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy.
The Humanoid Lounge: Experiencing the Future of Automation
The Humanoid Lounge offers visitors an immersive view into the future of industrial automation. Unlike traditional robotics demonstrations confined to trade shows or corporate facilities, this permanent showroom provides ongoing public access, allowing businesses, educational institutions, investors, and curious residents to interact directly with operational humanoid robots.
At the showroom’s opening, the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled performed live simulation and teleoperation tasks, demonstrating capabilities ranging from precise object manipulation to autonomous navigation through complex environments. The centerpiece “talk to a robot” feature gave attendees unique opportunities to experience conversational human-robot interaction, with the HMND 01 responding to questions, receiving task instructions, and engaging in naturalistic dialogue powered by advanced AI language models.
Educational workshops scheduled regularly at the Lounge will cover topics including humanoid robot capabilities and limitations, integration strategies for existing business operations, safety protocols and human-robot collaboration best practices, maintenance requirements and total cost of ownership, and customization options for sector-specific applications. These sessions aim to demystify humanoid robotics for business leaders evaluating automation investments while building workforce readiness for robot augmented operations.
The showroom model addresses a critical barrier to humanoid adoption: uncertainty. Many businesses remain skeptical about humanoid capabilities, unsure whether these sophisticated machines can handle real-world operational challenges or justify significant capital investments. By providing hands-on experience with functioning robots, the Humanoid Lounge reduces this uncertainty, allowing decision-makers to evaluate capabilities empirically rather than relying on marketing materials or demonstration videos.
The HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled: Britain’s Industrial Humanoid
The star of the Riyadh showroom is the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled, a robot that represents Humanoid’s pragmatic approach to commercialization. Built in just seven months claimed to be the fastest humanoid development cycle in history the Alpha Wheeled eschews the bipedal locomotion that dominates humanoid robotics research in favor of wheeled mobility optimized for industrial environments.
Standing 220 centimeters (approximately 7 feet 2 inches) tall, the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled features 29 active degrees of freedom excluding end-effectors, powered by AI driven end-to-end reasoning. The robot can travel at speeds up to 7.2 kilometers per hour while carrying bimanual payloads of 15 kilograms, with the ability to lift more when objects are positioned closer to the body. Its reach spans from floor level to two meters high, with shelf depths up to 60 centimeters, enabling the robot to pick goods directly from ground storage or high shelving locations.
For perception and navigation, the HMND 01 Alpha features 360-degree RGB cameras and dual depth sensors mounted in its head, providing comprehensive environmental awareness. These sensors feed data to AI systems trained through Humanoid’s proprietary combination of simulation training and real-world data collection,an approach the company claims delivers twice the development speed at half the cost compared to traditional methods.
Humanoid’s decision to prioritize wheeled mobility reflects strategic calculation rather than technical limitation. Company founder Artem Sokolov has stated that wheeled platforms address the majority of use cases in logistics and manufacturing environments, where operations typically occur on flat, smooth surfaces. By focusing first on wheeled industrial applications, Humanoid can achieve commercial deployment faster while gathering operational data and revenue that fund development of more complex bipedal versions for environments requiring stair climbing or uneven terrain navigation.
Strategic Partnership: Combining UK Innovation with Saudi Manufacturing
The Humanoid-QSS partnership exemplifies how international collaboration can accelerate robotics commercialization. Humanoid brings cutting-edge AI and robotics engineering developed by a 175-person team including alumni from Apple, Tesla, Google, Boston Dynamics, Sanctuary AI, and NVIDIA. QSS contributes deep regional expertise, established manufacturing infrastructure, government relationships, and alignment with Vision 2030 national priorities.
Under the agreement, QSS AI & Robotics serves as Humanoid’s exclusive commercial, distribution, and localization partner in Saudi Arabia. This exclusivity provides QSS with competitive advantages in capturing the Kingdom’s emerging robotics market while giving Humanoid a committed partner with incentives to drive adoption aggressively.
QSS will utilize its state of the art Robotics Factory in Riyadh the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, to explore localized assembly, customization, and support operations for Humanoids’ robots.
Dr. Elie Metri, CEO of QSS, emphasized the partnership’s transformative potential in statements to Arab News, noting that combining global expertise with local manufacturing capabilities and Vision 2030 alignment lays foundations for large-scale deployment that will transform the Kingdom into a regional robotics hub.
The 10,000-unit pre-order framework over five years represents enormous scale compared to current humanoid deployments globally. For context, Unitree Robotics reported cumulative orders of 1.1 billion yuan (approximately $153 million) since beginning shipments in November 2025, representing perhaps 1,000-2,000 units depending on model mix and pricing. The Saudi deployment would dwarf this, potentially making the Kingdom home to the world’s largest concentration of industrial humanoids outside China.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the Robotics Imperative
The Humanoid-QSS partnership aligns perfectly with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy to diversify the economy beyond oil dependence and establish the Kingdom as a global technology hub. The initiative, championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, targets developing high-tech industries including robotics, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, biotechnology, and advanced manufacturing.
Saudi Arabia is rapidly scaling its industrial robotics capabilities as part of this broader transformation. The Kingdom’s industrial robotics market, valued at $178.2 million in 2024, is projected to reach $543.7 million by 2033, reflecting a robust compound annual growth rate of 11.8%. This growth trajectory positions Saudi Arabia as the fastest-expanding robotics market in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Government support for robotics extends far beyond favorable market projections. Vision 2030 includes explicit goals for automation adoption, workforce retraining, and technology localization. Robotics companies investing in Saudi manufacturing facilities receive preferential treatment for government procurement contracts, tax incentives, streamlined regulatory approvals, and access to state-backed financing.
The broader Middle Eastern robotics ecosystem is developing rapidly. The UAE has launched multiple robotics initiatives including Dubai’s Robotics and Automation Industrial Zone. Qatar is investing heavily in robotics for World Cup 2022 infrastructure and ongoing stadium maintenance. Egypt has established robotics research centers and manufacturing partnerships. However, Saudi Arabia’s combination of oil wealth, strategic vision, geographic position, and government commitment positions the Kingdom as the natural regional leader.
The timing proves opportune for both Humanoid and QSS. The global humanoid robot market is experiencing explosive growth, with projections suggesting the market could reach $38 billion by 2035. Early movers who establish manufacturing capabilities, deploy operational robots at scale, build service and maintenance infrastructure, and develop sector specific applications will capture disproportionate market share as adoption accelerates globally.
Applications and Use Cases: Where Will 10,000 Robots Work?
The deployment of 10,000 humanoid robots across Saudi Arabia over five years raises natural questions about applications and use cases. Where will these robots work, and what tasks will they perform?
QSS has indicated deployment priorities across several key sectors:
Manufacturing: Humanoid robots can handle repetitive tasks including machine feeding and tending, quality inspection and defect detection, parts sorting. The technology developed through competitive robot sports directly translates to industrial applications, as the dynamic balance, manipulation precision, and adaptive decision-making required for athletic performance prove equally valuable in manufacturing contexts.
Logistics and Warehousing: E-commerce growth in Saudi Arabia and broader Middle East creates enormous demand for warehouse automation. Humanoid robots excel at order picking and fulfillment, inventory counting and management, loading and unloading containers, sorting packages by destination, and cross-docking operations. The HMND 01’s wheeled design proves particularly suited to warehouse environments with smooth floors and wide aisles designed for human workers and forklifts.
Retail Operations: Physical retail remains culturally important in Saudi Arabia despite e-commerce growth. Humanoid robots can enhance retail operations through shelf stocking and inventory management, customer assistance and wayfinding, checkout and payment processing support, cleaning and facility maintenance, and security and surveillance functions.
Energy Sector: Oil and gas operations present challenging environments where humanoid robots offer compelling value. Applications include pipeline inspection in hazardous areas, equipment monitoring in extreme temperatures, valve operation and maintenance tasks, materials handling in refineries, and emergency response in dangerous situations.
Public Infrastructure: QSS has indicated robots will support public infrastructure operations including facility cleaning and maintenance, security patrol and monitoring, traffic management assistance, public information and wayfinding, and emergency response coordination. These applications place robots in direct public interaction, requiring sophisticated social intelligence and failsafe safety systems.
Competitive Landscape: Humanoid’s Position in the Global Race
Humanoid enters the Middle Eastern market amid intense global competition in humanoid robotics. Chinese companies including Unitree, UBTech, and EngineAI have achieved aggressive pricing and rapid production scaling that challenge Western competitors. UBTech recently secured a $37 million contract to deploy Walker S2 humanoid robots at China-Vietnam border crossings, demonstrating how Chinese manufacturers are capturing government contracts at scale.
However, Humanoid’s UK base provides strategic advantages that offset Chinese cost leadership. European and Middle Eastern customers concerned about data security, intellectual property protection, geopolitical risk, and supply chain resilience may prefer Western-developed robots despite price premiums. The company’s founder-led $50 million in capital provides runway for aggressive expansion without the pricing pressure that venture-backed startups with demanding return requirements might face.
Humanoids’ pragmatic approach, prioritizing wheeled platforms for immediate commercial deployment while developing bipedal versions for future markets, contrasts with competitors’ strategies. Boston Dynamics’ fully electric Atlas showcases impressive bipedal capabilities including backflips and parkour, but at price points exceeding $200,000 and with limited commercial availability. Tesla’s Optimus targets consumer pricing below $20,000 but remains in development with no confirmed commercial release date. Figure AI focuses on automotive manufacturing applications with BMW partnerships but hasn’t announced Middle Eastern expansion plans.
The Saudi partnership positions Humanoid uniquely. No major Western humanoid manufacturer has established comparable Middle Eastern partnerships combining local manufacturing, government alignment, and committed deployment scale. If successful, the QSS partnership could serve as template for similar collaborations in other emerging markets where government support, infrastructure investment, and large-scale deployment commitments overcome the barriers that slow adoption in more fragmented Western markets.
Economic Impact: Jobs, Skills, and Industrial Transformation
The deployment of 10,000 humanoid robots inevitably raises questions about employment impact. Will robots displace Saudi workers, or will they create opportunities?
QSS CEO Dr. Elie Metri has emphasized that implementation requires significant workforce expansion. The company is scaling its robotics manufacturing workforce and building specialization tracks in humanoid mechatronics, AI control systems, and autonomous operations. Collaboration with Saudi universities and training centers aims to develop local talent aligned with Vision 2030’s emphasis on job creation and skills localization.
The economic calculus extends beyond direct robot manufacturing jobs. Each deployed robot requires ongoing support including scheduled maintenance and repairs, software updates and AI model training, teleoperation supervision for semi-autonomous operations, safety monitoring and compliance documentation, and customization for evolving operational needs. These services create sustainable employment that scales with robot deployment rather than being one-time manufacturing jobs.
Moreover, the historical pattern in industrial automation suggests robots augment rather than replace human workers in most scenarios. Robots handle repetitive, physically demanding, or dangerous tasks, while humans focus on decision-making, problem-solving, customer interaction, and oversight. Studies consistently show that facilities adopting automation typically increase overall employment as productivity gains enable business expansion that requires more workers across all roles.
The subscription vs. ownership models emerging in humanoid robotics further influence economic impact. If Humanoid and QSS offer robots-as-a-service (RaaS) options, which Humanoid has indicated as its business model, then deployment costs spread over time as operational expenses rather than requiring large upfront capital investments. This financing structure accelerates adoption while creating predictable recurring revenue streams that justify continued investment in manufacturing and service infrastructure.
Technical Challenges and Realistic Expectations
Despite the optimism surrounding the showroom launch and partnership announcement, significant technical challenges remain before 10,000 robots can operate reliably across diverse Saudi applications.
Environmental Adaptation: Saudi Arabia’s climate presents extreme heat, dust, and temperature fluctuations that stress robotic systems designed and tested primarily in temperate UK conditions. Ensuring reliable operation in 50°C summer temperatures while managing thermal loads from high-power actuators and computing systems requires extensive environmental testing and potential hardware modifications.
Cultural and Social Integration: Saudi culture includes unique social norms, gender-specific spaces, and religious considerations that influence human-robot interaction design. Robots must navigate these sensitivities appropriately to achieve acceptance. The Humanoid Lounge’s educational workshops likely address these integration challenges explicitly.
Arabic Language Processing: Effective operation in Saudi Arabia requires robust Arabic language understanding for voice commands, conversation, and text recognition. While large language models now handle Arabic competently, ensuring reliable performance across regional dialects and technical vocabularies demands focused development effort.
Safety and Liability Frameworks: Regulatory frameworks governing humanoid robot operations in Saudi Arabia remain under development. Questions about liability in accidents involving robots, safety certifications required for different applications, data privacy and security requirements, and insurance requirements for robot operators all need resolution before massive deployments proceed.
Maintenance and Support Infrastructure: Operating 10,000 robots distributed across a country roughly the size of Western Europe requires extensive service infrastructure. QSS must develop regional service centers, spare parts inventory and logistics, trained maintenance personnel, and remote diagnostics and troubleshooting capabilities. Building this infrastructure represents enormous investment beyond robot manufacturing itself.
Artem Sokolov, Humanoid’s founder, has acknowledged these challenges while expressing confidence in the partnership’s ability to address them through collaborative development. The showroom serves partly as testing ground where operational experience informs iterative improvements in hardware, software, integration protocols, and service procedures.
The Road Ahead: From Showroom to Scaled Deployment
The Humanoid Lounge represents the beginning of a multi-year journey from demonstration to deployment at scale. The timeline likely follows this trajectory:
2025-2026: Pilot Deployments: Initial robot installations at select facilities across priority sectors, closely monitored proof-of-concept projects validating capabilities, iterative improvements based on operational feedback, and expansion of showroom demonstrations incorporating lessons learned.
2027-2028: Accelerated Rollout: Hundreds of robots deployed as manufacturing capacity scales, standardized integration protocols reducing deployment time, trained workforce operating and maintaining robot fleets, and documented case studies demonstrating ROI and operational impact.
2029-2030: Mass Deployment: Thousands of robots operating across diverse applications, established regional service infrastructure supporting operations, export of robots and expertise to neighboring Gulf states, and Saudi Arabia emerging as the regional robotics hub envisioned by Vision 2030.
Success will be measured not just by robots deployed but by quantifiable operational improvements including labor productivity gains, error reduction and quality improvement, safety incident reduction in hazardous environments, operational cost reductions, and business expansion enabled by automation. QSS has indicated these key performance indicators will guide deployment prioritization and investment decisions.
The showroom itself will evolve based on feedback and market response. Future expansions might include virtual reality simulations allowing visitors to experience robot operation firsthand, technical training facilities for robot operators and maintenance personnel, a startup incubator for companies developing robot applications and accessories, and international delegations studying the Saudi model for replication elsewhere.
Global Implications: A Model for Emerging Market Adoption
The Humanoid-QSS partnership and Riyadh showroom opening carry significance extending far beyond Saudi Arabia. They demonstrate a potentially replicable model for accelerating humanoid adoption in emerging markets through government-backed partnerships, local manufacturing and customization, permanent showrooms reducing adoption barriers, committed large-scale deployment frameworks, and alignment with national economic strategies.
Other Middle Eastern nations will watch the Saudi experiment closely. If successful, expect similar partnerships announced in the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Egypt, each seeking robotics capabilities supporting their own economic diversification and technology leadership ambitions. Southeast Asian nations including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand facing similar labor challenges and industrialization goals represent logical next markets for this partnership model.
The showroom approach also offers lessons for Western markets where humanoid adoption has proceeded slowly despite greater wealth and technological sophistication. Permanent robotics experience centers in major cities could accelerate adoption by demystifying the technology and allowing business leaders to evaluate capabilities empirically. The pricing and ownership models make humanoids increasingly accessible, but psychological and knowledge barriers remain significant, barriers that hands-on showroom experiences effectively address.
For Humanoid as a company, the Saudi partnership validates the founder’s strategic vision of prioritizing commercially viable applications over research breakthroughs. Building a business on pragmatic wheeled platforms deployed at industrial scale generates revenue, operational data, and market validation that fund development of more advanced bipedal systems for future consumer and service markets. This contrasts with competitors pursuing bipedal capabilities first despite limited near-term commercial applications.
The Middle East’s Humanoid Future Begins in Riyadh
The launch of the Humanoid Lounge in Riyadh marks a defining moment for the Middle East robotics industry, the transition from aspirational plans to operational robots accessible for hands on experience and evaluation. The partnership between UK-based Humanoid and Saudi Arabia’s QSS combines Western innovation with Middle Eastern manufacturing capabilities and government backing in a model that could accelerate humanoid adoption globally.
Challenges remain significant. Environmental adaptation, cultural integration, regulatory development, and service infrastructure buildout all demand careful execution. The distance between showroom demonstrations and reliable 24/7 industrial operation across thousands of sites is substantial. However, the partnership’s strengths, Humanoids’ engineering excellence, QSS’s local expertise and manufacturing capabilities, government alignment and support, and committed financial backing, position it to overcome these obstacles.
For the global humanoid robotics industry, the Riyadh showroom and Saudi deployment plans signal that the technology has progressed beyond research laboratories and pilot projects. Real businesses are making real commitments to deploy humanoids at commercial scale. This validation should accelerate investment, talent recruitment, and adoption conversations worldwide.
As visitors to the Humanoid Lounge interact with the HMND 01 Alpha, experiencing firsthand how these sophisticated machines perceive environments, manipulate objects, and respond to instructions, they’re witnessing more than technological demonstration. They’re seeing the future of work, manufacturing, and human-machine collaboration taking physical form in the heart of the Middle East.
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