China and the United States are establishing themselves at high speed on the emerging market for new robotics. But France has some references to put forward.
Still emerging, the humanoid robotics market is today dominated by the United States and China. But what about France? Compared to artificial intelligence – a field in which it has managed to create a major player with Mistral AI – it remains relatively discreet for the moment.
However, France has played an important role in the development of humanoid robotics, notably via the start-up Aldebaran Robotics and its NAO robot, used in numerous universities and for research applications.
The latter filed for bankruptcy last year, but new players took over. Enchanted Tools, Pollen Robotics, Manifest and even UMA: we can still count them on the fingers of one hand, but these start-ups hope to find their place in a sector expected to experience strong growth in the years to come.
A rapidly structuring software ecosystem is also developing around these robot manufacturers, driven in particular by artificial intelligence players.
Aldebaran, the liquidated pioneer
Founded in 2005, Aldebaran was one of the world’s pioneers in humanoid robotics. In the 2010s, it deployed nearly 40,000 NAO and Pepper robots, more than any other company in the industry to date. NAO, approximately 58 centimeters high, has been used in universities and research laboratories around the world, becoming a reference educational and scientific tool.
But Aldebaran was placed in compulsory liquidation in 2025, after several years of financial difficulties. Despite this disappearance, NAO and Pepper remain today the best-known French humanoid robots.
Enchanted Tools, Manifest… the new generation
After Aldebaran passed away, a new generation of actors took over. Founded in 2021 by Jérôme Monceaux, formerly of Aldebaran, and Samuel Benveniste, the Parisian start-up Enchanted Tools has stood out in recent months thanks to its Miroki and Miroka robots.
Not quite humanoid, these machines have a head and two arms, but move on a motorized ball, a choice made for reasons of ergonomics and safety. With their elf ears and manga-inspired design, they look more like anime characters than a human.
The robots have already been deployed in several public places. At Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport, we could see them guiding travelers, while in certain hospitals they accompany children suffering from leukemia.
The start-up has sold around fifty units and now wants to scale up. After a pre-industrial phase, the robots must move on to a commercial version this year. Jérôme Monceaux is targeting between 600 and 1,000 sales in 2026 thanks to a network of international partners.
Among the targeted markets is California, where these robots could assist elderly people in a context of demographic aging. Enchanted Tools has also formed a partnership with Google DeepMind in order to improve the autonomy of its machines.
Another player to follow: Pollen Robotics, French start-up specializing in research robots and acquired in 2024 by Hugging Face. It is notably developing the Reachy 2 robot. Based on this model, sold for around $70,000, the company has designed a more accessible version: Reachy Mini, sold for around $300 in the form of an open source kit. The company also offers the Hope JR humanoid robot, sold for less than 3,000 euros.
Last year, we were also able to witness the launch of the start-up UMA (Universal Mechanical Assistant), which develops lightweight, low-cost humanoid robots, intended for all types of applications. Several pilot programs are planned in the coming months in logistics and industry.
Manifest, a French startup based in Toulouse and founded by Charles-Henri Blanchet, is developing humanoid robots intended for the aeronautics and defense sectors.
AI and software, France’s strategic assets
In the field of software, however, France seems ready to play a major role, driven in particular by AMI Labs, the start-up co-founded by Yann LeCun, former scientific director of Meta specializing in AI. If it does not design robots, it develops the software that allows them to perceive the world.
AMI thus plans to develop “quasi-universal intelligent systems” that can be used in particular for humanoid robotics. “I am clearly one of those who think we need a paradigm shift” in relation to AI’s dependence on linear models, Yann LeCun told AFP.
Based in Paris, the company has raised $1.03 billion (850 million euros) to develop models capable of understanding the physical world. Valued at $3.5 billion before this fundraising, it is already part of the French unicorn club.
Furthermore, France already has a champion in the field of AI, Mistral AI, which is positioned in robotics and physical AI. The company has begun developing models that could power robots’ cognitive systems.
Another French actor to follow is Hugging Face. The French open source unicorn is now exploring robotics. After the acquisition of Pollen Robotics, a specialist in robotic hardware, the company is also developing a dedicated software ecosystem, in particular via its platform called LeRobot. With the desire to reproduce in robotics the open source approach that made it successful in AI, the company began by publishing resources for the community: reference plans, 3D printable parts, list of components and assembly instructions.
France can thus rely on real know-how and numerous experts in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. But faced with massive investments from the United States and China, the challenge is immense for the French ecosystem.
