What if your next colleague isn't human but a humanoid robot powered by AI?

That may sound like science fiction, but for those of us building these systems, the future is arriving faster than many realize.

Over the next decade, humanoid robots will move from being experimental prototypes to becoming practical, scalable, and affordable solutions across industries such as healthcare, education, logistics, and smart cities. I've seen this shift firsthand the questions being asked today by hospitals, schools, and enterprises aren't "Can we build a robot?" but rather "How do we deploy it effectively and make it work with our existing systems?"

Why This Decade Is the Tipping Point

From my perspective working in humanoid robotics, three forces are converging to accelerate adoption:

1. AI and Machine Learning Advancements – Large language models and adaptive vision systems now allow robots to understand context, communicate naturally, and learn from interaction.

2. Enterprise-Grade Computing – Hybrid cloud, edge AI, and high-performance platforms (areas where IBM is a leader) are enabling humanoid robots to make real-time, trustworthy decisions.

3. Market Demand – Workforce shortages, aging populations, and operational resilience are driving industries to seriously explore robotics not in theory, but in practice.

What the Next 5–10 Years Could Look Like

Here's where I believe we'll see the biggest breakthroughs:

• Healthcare: Humanoid robots will not only deliver medication but also integrate with patient data systems to provide real-time monitoring and alerts.

• Education: Robots will move from being "classroom novelties" to personalized learning assistants, helping students learn languages, STEM, and even soft skills.

• Smart Infrastructure: Imagine airports where humanoid robots perform safety checks, assist elderly passengers, and interact with IoT systems to maintain operations.

• Enterprise Operations: Beyond physical tasks, humanoid robots will be data conduits, feeding information into enterprise AI systems and automation platforms.

By 2035, I believe humanoid robots won't just be assistants they'll manage entire service ecosystems, coordinating between people, machines, and data systems.

The Hard Realities We Face

As exciting as this is, I can say from experience that building robots isn't the hard part anymore deploying them is. A few of the challenges ahead include:

• Ethics & Trust: Robots must be designed to operate transparently, within safe boundaries, and with strong AI governance.

• Cost & Scalability: Today, building a humanoid robot is possible. Scaling them to be affordable and reliable for every hospital, school, or enterprise is the real challenge.

• Integration: In my view, this is the biggest bottleneck. Robots need to connect seamlessly with enterprise platforms, hybrid cloud ecosystems, and AI governance frameworks. Without this, they remain expensive experiments rather than working solutions.

This is where IBM's work in responsible AI, governance, and hybrid cloud becomes critical to moving humanoid robotics from promise to practice.

A Call to the Community

The next decade will define how humanoid robots become part of our work and our cities. The real question isn't "Will humanoid robots take our jobs?" but rather "How do we prepare ourselves and our industries to work alongside them?"

So I'd like to hear from you:

• If you had a humanoid robot on your team today, what task would you trust it with first?

• How do you see enterprise AI platforms, like IBM's, accelerating adoption in your industry?

Let's start the conversation. The next colleague you onboard might just be made of circuits and code.

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Cizar Abughazaleh
Chief Executive Officer
MAXimuz Technology
cizar@maximuz.tech
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