bottleneckScore 30/100Watch
Manipulation capabilities remain decade behind locomotion; dexterous hand technology is critical bottleneck for broader humanoid deployment
Jonathan Hurst· Agility Robotics· Robotics· 2026-03-10· about Agility Robotics
“I think that manipulation is a decade behind locomotion in terms of really being something we can do well. Part of the challenge is for locomotion, you just have to have a model of the robot itself... For manipulation, though, you know, it's many more degrees of freedom in a hand. And now there's huge uncertainty about all of the things you're interacting with about how soft or hard they are about the frictional components of them.”
Why it matters
Manipulation is explicitly identified as a decade-long development gap versus locomotion. This bottleneck will constrain the timeline and application scope of deployed humanoids, creating extended opportunity windows for specialized hand/gripper suppliers.
Investment implication
Companies developing advanced grippers, force-control actuators, and compliant hand systems (e.g., specialized end-effectors for picking, bin manipulation, dexterous tasks) have extended runway before direct competition from integrated humanoid manufacturers. Suppliers of sensors for force feedback and haptic control are positioned to benefit.