Six-month humanoid robot trial in London warehouse ends — results are surprising

Operator publishes full performance data, including the failures, in a refreshing break from industry norms.

A six-month trial of humanoid robots in a working London logistics warehouse has concluded, and the operator has taken the unusual step of publishing a full data set covering both the successes and the failures.

Across 184 days of continuous operation, the eight-robot fleet completed an estimated 71% of assigned picking tasks autonomously, with the remainder requiring human intervention of varying degrees.

Critics had predicted either runaway success or total collapse; the reality, the operator says, is 'the boring middle ground where genuine engineering progress actually lives'.

The report identifies several specific failure modes, including persistent struggles with deformable packaging and a tendency for visual systems to degrade in low-light conditions.

A second, larger trial is now planned for the autumn at a site in the West Midlands.