Agile Robots is preparing for a new development phase in Munich. The company is expanding its portfolio in two ways: On one hand, it is acquiring large parts of Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering in Europe and North America. On the other hand, series production of its first industrial humanoid Agile One is ready to begin.
Zhaopeng Chen, founder and CEO of Agile Robots, says:
“Now is the right time to combine AI, robotics, and industrial expertise. Physical AI offers industry tremendous productivity leaps. With Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, we gain the perfect reinforcement to drive the next industrial revolution together. And from Germany.”
New structures and industrial momentum
Agile Robots was founded in 2018 as a spin-off of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Munich and currently employs more than 2,500 employees from around 60 countries. With the acquisition of Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, the team grows by around 650 experts and ten new locations. The choice of Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering was driven by its technological expertise, long-standing customer relationships, and international industry experience – particularly in the automotive sector.
The integration of Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering – henceforth Krause Automation – strengthens Agile Robots’s mechanical engineering expertise and expands its global supply chain. In addition, new opportunities emerge for fast-growing sectors such as consumer electronics, medical technology, and intralogistics. The North American business also opens up new possibilities for the company to act more strongly in the US market.
Rolf-Günther Nieberding, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, comments on the acquisition:
“We bring our long-standing experience in plant construction and project execution for demanding processes, business-critical projects, and global customer structures to a dynamically growing organization of a German future company. With Agile Robots’s innovations in the application of robotics, software, and systems integration plus our expertise, we can strategically create added value for our joint customers – and further support Agile Robots Group’s steep growth trajectory.”
Agile One production starts 2026
In parallel, Agile Robots is advancing the development of Physical AI. The humanoid Agile One is being developed for industrial applications such as material transport, pick-and-place, machine operation, and precise manipulation. Production is to take place entirely at its own facility in Bavaria starting in early 2026. Agile One complements existing systems such as Agile Hand, FR3, Diana 7, the Thor series, as well as autonomous mobile robots and AGVs. The foundation is the AgileCore software platform, which connects all systems.
Chen comments:
“We at Agile Robots are convinced that the next industrial revolution will be shaped by Physical AI: intelligent, autonomous, and flexible robots that can perceive, understand, and act in the physical world. Agile One embodies this vision.”
