Gartner Predicts Limited Scaling of Humanoid Robots by 2028

High costs, complexity, and unclear ROI expected to slow enterprise adoption

A vibrant, geometric representation of an underwater robotic assembly line, with abstract robotic arms in shades of blue, accompanied by serene cloud-filled skies through distant windows.

Humanoid robots continue to capture attention across industries, but only a small number of companies are expected to deploy them at scale by 2028, according to Gartner.

Despite rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics, several structural challenges remain. High development and deployment costs, operational complexity, safety concerns, and unclear return on investment are all slowing adoption. For most companies, humanoid robots still represent experimental or niche use cases, rather than scalable business solutions.

Gartner notes that while interest is strong — particularly in sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and retail — real-world implementation at scale requires significant breakthroughs in reliability, cost reduction, and integration with existing systems.

That said, the long-term potential remains substantial. As technology matures, humanoid robots could eventually play a role in addressing labor shortages, improving efficiency, and handling repetitive or physically demanding tasks.

For now, however, the gap between innovation hype and operational reality remains significant.

corpbrief insight

Humanoid robots are a powerful vision — but not yet a practical system. The near-term winners won’t be the companies chasing headlines, but the ones quietly building specific, high-ROI use cases while the technology catches up.