New Dutch Laboratory Aims to Make Europe a Leader in Humanoid Robotics
Schiedam, Sunday 5 July 2026
The Humanoid Application Centre has opened in Schiedam, aiming to secure Europe’s place in the global robotics race with machines operating for just six euros an hour.
The Competitive Race for European Sovereignty
The Humanoid Application Centre (HAC) has officially opened its doors at the Mechatronica Innovatie Campus in Schiedam, Netherlands, marking a pivotal step in Europe’s high-tech landscape [1]. This milestone follows an initial eight-week operational phase that commenced around 10 May 2026, during which the centre has actively collaborated with five paying clients from the Netherlands and Belgium [1]. These early partnerships focus on practical applications in logistics, security, and construction, demonstrating immediate commercial demand for humanoid hardware [1].
Preventing Another Technological Deficit
The initiative arrives at a critical juncture for European technology. Co-founder Evert Jaap Lugt warns that Europe has already lost the artificial intelligence race to global competitors and must act decisively in robotics to avoid a similar fate [1]. While Chinese firms like UBtech have scaled rapidly within three years, and American giants such as Tesla and Nvidia pour massive resources into humanoid development, Europe has lagged [1]. To counter this, the HAC aims to establish a collaborative ecosystem, aiming to host at least 20 companies within its current 1,000-square-metre facility by 31 December 2026 [1].
A Strategic Pivot to Open-Source Hardware
A primary bottleneck for European developers is the restrictive nature of existing robotics software. Co-founder Bart van der Werff notes that American robots, as well as systems from Germany’s Neura, currently utilise closed software ecosystems [1]. Consequently, the HAC has strategically turned to Chinese hardware from manufacturers like Unitree and UBtech [1]. These Chinese models offer far more open architectures, allowing European developers to reprogram them and fine-tune underlying machine learning models to suit specific industrial tasks [1].
Optimising Development and Operational Costs
Under the technical direction of CTO Michaël Ozo, the HAC leverages Nvidia Jetson modules integrated into these robots to run custom neural networks [1]. This setup allows the team to develop advanced navigation and learned policies through imitation learning, which can be used to fine-tune delicate physical tasks such as packaging [1]. To manage the high capital expenditure of these advanced systems, the centre employs a tiered testing strategy [1]. Software is first developed and validated on smaller, highly cost-effective robots before being deployed on larger, more expensive humanoid models [1].
High-Tech Systems and the Dual-Use Frontier
The establishment of the HAC aligns with a broader push across the Netherlands and Europe to revitalise High-Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM) [GPT]. As geopolitical tensions rise, the line between commercial robotics and defence-related manufacturing is increasingly blurred, placing dual-use technologies at the forefront of industrial policy [GPT]. Humanoid systems, with their ability to navigate human-centric environments, are drawing intense interest for hazardous military logistics, bomb disposal, and security patrols—applications that the HAC is already touching upon through its security-focused pilot projects [1][GPT].
Synergies in Quantum and Energy Transition Hardware
This focus on robust, dual-use hardware is mirrored in adjacent deep-tech sectors, such as quantum computing hardware and energy transition technologies [GPT]. Just as quantum hardware requires precise physical manipulation and advanced materials to maintain qubit coherence, humanoid robotics demands next-generation actuators and sensors to operate efficiently [GPT]. The founders point out that these machines are currently in their infancy—co-founder Richard Kuijpers compares today’s humanoids to the early Pentium 4 processors [1]. Yet, as the technology matures, these robots are projected to operate for just 6 euros per hour, running 24 hours a day [1]. This equates to a daily operating cost of just 144 euros per machine, presenting a disruptive economic proposition for both civilian supply chains and defence manufacturing [1][GPT].
Scaling Up the European Robotics Footprint
To accommodate the anticipated influx of hardware startups, universities, and venture capitalists, the HAC has mapped out an ambitious physical expansion. The current 1,000-square-metre facility is designed to house roughly 20 companies [1]. However, plans are already underway to expand into an adjacent 10,000-square-metre site located directly across the street [1]. This represents an expansion of 900 percent in physical testing space, providing the necessary infrastructure to scale up operations [1].
A Sovereign Foothold for 2033
The ultimate goal is to establish Schiedam as the primary European hub for humanoid robotics by 2033 [1]. By that deadline, the founders envision hosting more than 100 active companies utilising humanoid robots that have collectively accumulated millions of operational hours [1]. If successful, this initiative will not only mitigate critical labour shortages across the Benelux region but also secure a sovereign European foothold in the critical, dual-use hardware technologies of the next decade [1][GPT].