Robot.com is launching R-noid, a wheeled humanoid robot that integrates advanced AI for handling packaging, loading, and workstation prep across food service, logistics, and healthcare sectors.
- R-noid is a wheeled humanoid robot with dexterous arms for logistics and food service.
- Powered by Physical Intelligence AI and partnered with FieldAI for navigation autonomy.
- Current deployments include fewer than 40 units with a focus on augmenting, not replacing, workers.
What happened
Robot.com, previously operating as Kiwibot, announced the development and commercial deployment of R-noid, a wheeled humanoid robot designed to perform key manual tasks in kitchens, warehouses, and healthcare settings. Unlike traditional humanoid robots, R-noid uses a holonomic wheeled base providing stability and quicker deployment rather than walking legs.
R-noid features dual seven-degree-of-freedom arms with an articulated torso and can reach vertically up to nearly two meters. It uses the vision-language-action AI model from Physical Intelligence, which interprets natural language commands and translates them into precise robotic arm movements. The company has partnered with FieldAI to enhance R-noid's autonomous navigation capabilities.
Why it matters
With more than 500 delivery robots already deployed and over two and a half million completed tasks, Robot.com’s pivot to humanoid manipulation robots marks a significant strategic expansion. This move addresses growing demand for practical automation solutions that can handle repetitive physical tasks in diverse workplace settings, from food service to logistics and healthcare.
Instead of pursuing full autonomy immediately, Robot.com emphasizes a deployment model combining teleoperation and remote support, aiming for about 70% autonomy initially. Their approach focuses on augmenting human workers by offloading monotonous manual work, which could improve job satisfaction and operational efficiency amid increasing labor shortages and rising operational costs.
What to watch next
Robot.com plans to showcase R-noid at Automate 2026 in Chicago, signaling a push toward broader commercial adoption. Deployment involves an extensive on-site evaluation phase, including data collection to fine-tune AI models based on customer-specific tasks, a process that can require up to 50 hours of data gathering before full independent operation.
The startup will focus on five initial applications for the R-noid: restaurant assistant, packer, picker, folder, and host. Market watchers should observe how Robot.com navigates competition in the humanoid robotics field, which remains challenging with mixed enterprise feedback, by emphasizing practical, task-specific solutions rather than general-purpose robots.