Tesla staked its claim on humanoid robots with Optimus before AI breathed new life into the market. Now, one of the scientists who helped build it is working on a rival.
On Tuesday, UMA, the physical AI startup founded in 2025, unveiled the design of its first humanoid robot. Remi Cadène, CEO and co-founder of UMA and former staff scientist at Tesla, sees humanoid robots as the key to unlocking greater productive capacity.
"We believe intelligent robots will become part of the solution, not as a substitute for people, but as a new class of tools that enables them to devote more time to what machines will never replace: creativity, judgment, innovation, and caring for others," said Cadène in the release.
UMA is developing two systems: a dual-arm mobile industrial robot that could operate in warehouses or on assembly lines, and a compact humanoid robot designed to navigate human-centric spaces and collaborate directly with people.
While many companies are currently tackling physical AI and have built humanoid robots, UMA's unique appeal is its use of the Real-Time Learning architecture, in which robots can learn through demonstration rather than manual programming. According to the company, this is meant not only to help them learn more efficiently, directly in the physical world as a human would, but also to improve their performance over time. Another distinctive characteristic is that most of the robotics buildout is happening either in the US or China, while UMA is building physical AI in Europe.
The idea of physical AI is simple: give AI access to your actual environment so it can take action and learn tangibly and firsthand. Though humanoid robots may have first been made mainstream by Tesla with Optimus as a futuristic idea, they now have buy-in from big companies and leaders, as AI has broadened humanoid robots' applications and ability to learn. UMA is a prime example, with a team comprising experts with experience at NYU, Google DeepMind, and LeRobot, as well as backing from leading AI figures and investors, including Yann LeCun and Olivier Pommel.
Our Deeper View #
Europe has been falling behind in AI and robotics development compared to the US and China. However, one unique advantage the region has is actual legislation in place to standardize AI operations, making companies more likely to trust its use. For robotics specifically, there's a lot of public mistrust, since it not only looks like something out of a sci-fi movie but also involves cameras and cohabitating with humans in a way that can inherently compromise privacy. As a result, a regulated robotics industry in Europe could be exactly what it takes to bring the technology mainstream, or at least give Europe a much-needed early advantage.