Agile Robots

Agile Robots SE is a Munich-based physical-AI and automation company spun out of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in 2018. It grew into a European unicorn on the back of force-sensitive robot arms, mobile robots, and automation systems — more than 20,000 systems deployed and roughly €200M in revenue — and acquired cobot pioneer Franka Emika in 2023. In November 2025 it entered the humanoid race with Agile ONE, an industrial biped built around its 'world-leading' dexterous hand and the AgileCore software stack, and led by co-founder and CEO Dr. Zhaopeng Chen. In mid-2026 SoftBank was reported to be in talks to back an $800M funding round.