Schaeffler and Wandelbots team up to build an open physical AI robotics platform
Schaeffler is partnering with German robotics firm Wandelbots to develop an open platform that brings physical AI into industrial and humanoid robotics across its global plants.
- up to 40 percent
- 12 months
What Happened
Motion Technology Company Schaeffler has entered into a technology partnership with Wandelbots, a German robotics and physical AI company. The cooperation centres on developing the Wandelbots NOVA open platform so that artificial intelligence can be used in industrial and humanoid robotics. In the future the solution should be available to all Schaeffler plants worldwide, making it easier to develop, test and transfer robotics applications across locations. The partners say this creates the conditions for scalable use of physical AI and further digitalization of Schaeffler's global manufacturing network.
- Joint development, validation and global scaling of robotics applications
- Development of the Wandelbots NOVA open platform for AI in industrial and humanoid robotics
- Availability of the solution to all Schaeffler plants worldwide
- Reduction of automation life cycle costs by up to 40 percent, in new and existing manufacturing environments
- Establishment of NOVA as a standard at Schaeffler for designing, digitally testing and deploying applications
“If you want to shape the manufacturing of the future, you have to rethink automation. Flexibility and scalability are key to succeeding in today's competitive global marketplace. With Wandelbots, we will take state-of-the-art physical AI straight from theory to industrial practice. This will solidify Schaeffler's position as a technology pioneer and take the digitalization of Schaeffler's manufacturing network to the next level.”
Under the partnership, NOVA is meant to support Schaeffler in designing applications, testing them digitally and deploying them in various plants. The platform will connect different robot systems and make it possible to transfer tested solutions to other applications and locations. Virtual testing will rely on NVIDIA's Omniverse and Isaac Sim technologies, so manufacturing processes and robot tasks can be simulated, validated and optimized before being used in real-world manufacturing environments. A skill store will bundle applications, models and technical knowledge, letting Schaeffler capture skills from individual projects, use them system-independently, scale them to other plants and in the future make them available externally as well.
“Physical AI has great potential to significantly reduce manufacturing costs while dramatically increasing the flexibility of robots. Over the last 12 months, we have sufficiently demonstrated the technical feasibility. Now we have to ensure that skills can be developed efficiently, transferred to different systems, and deployed reliably in actual manufacturing settings. Our cooperation with Schaeffler combines an open technology platform with comprehensive industrial application expertise. Together, we will show how applications can be moved from development to practice more quickly and scaled across various manufacturing environments.”
up to 40percent
Applies to both new and existing manufacturing environments, according to the partners
Previously from Schaeffler Group
Schaeffler has already been building out humanoid robotics in its own plants: in October 2026 it opened a 7,500-square-meter Lighthouse Factory in Taicang, China, where six humanoid robots assemble joint modules for the next generation of humanoids. The group has also been extending its software activities through a partnership with Qorix to jointly develop, integrate and market software-based platform solutions for future vehicle architectures, starting with automotive and later moving to robotics and industrial automation.
- Schaeffler opens Taicang Lighthouse Factory where humanoid robots build humanoid joint modules
- Schaeffler and Qorix partner to build software platforms for software-defined vehicles
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Schaeffler Group's official releases.
Why this matters
If it works as planned, the platform could cut the life cycle costs of automation solutions by up to 40 percent in both new and existing manufacturing environments. That matters for Schaeffler's plant network worldwide, where robotics applications would be developed, tested and transferred between locations, and it signals how AI skills are becoming a shared, scalable asset in manufacturing.
Terms in This Story
- Physical AI
- Artificial intelligence that perceives and acts in the real world, controlling robots and machines rather than only processing data.
- Humanoid robotics
- Robots built with a human-like body form, intended to carry out tasks in environments designed for people.
- Skill store
- A central repository where reusable robotic applications, models and technical know-how are kept so they can be shared across systems and sites.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.