EPFL spin-off Embodied AI unveils AIR, a legless dual-arm wheeled humanoid built for factory floors
lukas_m_ziegler · x · 2026-11-06
Embodied AI, an EPFL spin-off headquartered in Lausanne with a new Rome office, unveiled AIR, a dual-arm humanoid for factory work. Founders Francesco Stella, Kai Junge and Max Polzin are EPFL PhDs; the company is part of the Google DeepMind accelerator and NVIDIA Inception.
Design choices reveal the philosophy: no legs — an omnidirectional wheeled base instead, since a 100kg biped losing balance near an operator is a safety incident and legs buy nothing on flat factory floors. Mass sits in the torso with light tendon-driven arms, so no cage or fencing is required and the robot can work next to people. AIR drops into existing workstations, avoiding line rebuilds.
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