The humanoid robotics industry is transitioning from prototype development toward structured pilot deployments and early commercial adoption. IDTechEx’s report ‘Materials for Humanoid Robots 2026–2036: Technologies, Players, Forecasts’ expects 2026–2027 to represent key transition years, with more players moving from pilot testing toward production readiness and early-scale rollout.
A major component at the heart of humanoid hardware is the actuator, which drives the physical motion of the robot, allowing humanoids to walk, lift objects, handle tools and interact with the environment. With a 47% compound annual growth rate for humanoid unit sales expected over the next decade, materials manufacturers and component suppliers have emerging opportunities to enter the supply chain of this rapidly growing market.
Current state of humanoid actuators
Actuators can be linear and rotary, and use pneumatic, electric or hydraulic power to generate movement, with electric actuators being the most popular among current humanoid robots. IDTechEx analysis of more than 50 humanoid robots and prototypes finds there are typically 31 actuators in a humanoid robot, excluding end-effectors such as grippers or dexterous hands. The actuators vary depending on the requirements of the joint: wrists and ankles typically use smaller actuators, while load-bearing joints like hips and knees require larger, heavy-duty actuators.
IDTechEx estimates that around 56% of the humanoid’s weight comes from actuators alone. These systems rely on rigid, heavy-duty materials such as metal alloys, steel, aluminium and similar metals for key structural components. Rare-earth permanent magnets, such as NdFeB, are critical for actuator motors in humanoid robots, providing high torque density, power density and smoother torque curves. IDTechEx’s report provides detailed insights into material requirements, challenges and 10-year demand forecasts for key materials, including metals and rare-earth permanent magnets.
A future for soft actuators?
Rigid actuators are particularly suitable for heavy-duty movements and loads with high precision often required by humanoid joints. Limitations include poor adaptability to unstructured environments, vulnerability to impact, mechanical wear and fatigue. These systems also use heavy materials such as steel and aluminium alloys which add to the weight and bulk of the humanoid, reduce movement, and battery efficiency.
Compared to rigid actuators, soft actuators based on flexible materials can have biomimetic functions and behave like artificial muscles. Typical materials used for soft actuators include electroactive polymers, shape memory alloys and piezoelectric materials. These materials respond to an external stimulus such as current, voltage, temperature, pressure or magnetic field to generate movement. However, these technologies are still at developmental stage with several challenges to address.
Although the vast majority of current humanoid designs use rigid actuators, IDTechEx considers this likely to continue as the mainstay. Soft actuators do have potential to play a role in the future, for instance, in hybrid designs, deployed in areas where human-like movement has a greater priority while retaining rigid actuators for high-loadbearing areas.
Outlook
The current focus of the humanoid industry is on standardising components, optimising designs for manufacturability and building supply chains. This is giving rise to partnerships between humanoid OEMs and actuator suppliers that traditionally serve the automotive industry, leveraging existing expertise and supply chains. Lightweighting without compromising structural integrity is also a key challenge. In the long term, materials innovations will be central to underpinning next-generation humanoid hardware.
IDTechEx’s report ‘Materials for Humanoid Robots: Technologies, Players, Forecasts’ provides timely market insights into humanoid robotics, identifying key trends and emerging opportunities for materials and component suppliers. It examines material requirements, roadmaps, challenges, bottlenecks, supply chains and industry players across major robot components, including actuators, structural elements, thermal management systems and tactile sensors, and includes 10-year demand forecasts by material type.
For more information contact IDTechEx,
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