Summary
Bloomberg Tech Europe dedicates a full episode to the question of whether humanoid robots are finally ready to leave the lab and enter the real world, featuring interviews with leading voices across finance, academia, and industry. Zornitsa Cartocci, Head of Thematic Fixed Income Research at Barclays, outlines the bank’s estimate that humanoid robots alone could become a $200 billion market over the next decade, with broader physical AI — including drones and autonomous vehicles — potentially reaching $1 trillion by 2035. She notes that 60,000 humanoid units are expected to ship globally in 2026, up from 15,000 the prior year, driven by simultaneous improvements in hardware, AI intelligence, and battery technology.
Carolina Parada, Head of Robotics at Google DeepMind, explains the core technical challenge: unlike language models trained on text, robots require physical experience and real-world data to learn tasks. DeepMind’s approach focuses on building an intelligence layer that allows robots to understand language instructions, reason about their environment, and take action on novel tasks — a step toward what Parada describes as achieving AGI in the physical world.
The episode also highlights China’s commanding lead in the sector: new industry data from Smart Analytics Global shows Chinese manufacturers accounted for more than 97% of global humanoid shipments in the first half of 2026, with 19,100 units shipped — a 272% year-over-year increase. Industry revenue is forecast to nearly double from roughly $600 million in 2026 to $3 billion by 2027, raising urgent questions about whether European and Western companies can compete.
📺 Source: Bloomberg Tech · Published August 14, 2026
🏷️ Format: News Analysis
