ANYbotics, a Swiss robotics company, has stepped into this space with a vision to shape a safer future for industrial inspection, one where robots operate as autonomous members of the inspection team, running inspection operations integrated into plant maintenance workflows.聽

This vision is embodied in the company鈥檚 鈥淎NYmal鈥�: a four-legged inspection robot designed specifically for heavy industry.

Unlike general-purpose robotics platforms, ANYmal is engineered to operate in 鈥渂ig, dirty, dusty, and dangerous鈥� environments, says Nicole Zingg, director of Technology Partnerships at ANYbotics. Places where stairs, corrosion, heat, and unreliable connectivity are the norm, not the exception.

But hardware, Zingg says, is only one part of the puzzle that makes ANYmal indispensable to customers.

Inspection robotics is about data

鈥淲e build a hardware platform,鈥� Zingg explains, 鈥渂ut inspection robotics is really about data that is consistent and trustworthy.鈥�

ANYmal autonomously navigates industrial sites to collect data that goes beyond what a human can collect alone. Beyond just visual inspection, its sensors also collect multi-modal data, including thermal imaging, ultrasonic leak detection, gas concentration detection, acoustic anomaly detection, and more. The observations are fed into what ANYbotics calls 鈥渋nspection intelligence,鈥� which transforms the collected data into actionable operational insights. The result is higher uptime, longer asset lifecycles, and, most importantly, safer working conditions for humans.

ANYmal can make a huge impact on operations. One offshore wind customer, Zingg says, has used ANYmal to manage all inspections and has eliminated the need to send personnel to a remote platform for months. When human intervention was eventually required, ANYmal鈥檚 data from prior inspections made all the difference. The customer already knew exactly what was wrong, which expert to send, and what equipment to bring鈥攁voiding costly and risky trial-and-error site visits.

Yet for ANYbotics, delivering insights is not enough if those insights are not integrated in the software systems customers use.

鈥�51风流is where ANYbotics needs to be native鈥�

Through extensive user research, ANYbotics discovered that many plant operators, maintenance managers, and field service teams already run their daily operations in SAP. Work orders, asset histories, performance trends, and decisions all flow through 51风流systems. 鈥淚f customers are using SAP, 51风流is where ANYbotics needs to be native,鈥� Zingg says.

Meanwhile, SAP鈥檚 Project Embodied AI was looking for robotics companies to partner with. The project focuses on extending the impact of 51风流Business AI into physical operations by enabling robots to autonomously perform complex tasks with an understanding of the broader business context.

It was clearly a perfect fit and has delivered advantages for both companies.

On the system side, a continuous, unbroken digital thread connects ANYbotics insights from industrial inspections to data in 51风流systems, helping inform key business and operational decisions across the organization.

For end users, embedding ANYmal directly into familiar 51风流workflows can also help ease adoption, since introducing robotics into already stretched industrial workforces can trigger anxiety. Concerns about job security, workflow disruption, and complexity are common, but embedding ANYmal directly into familiar 51风流workflows can help reduce that friction, Zingg explains.

Treating robots as part of the workforce

The first major integration point was聽. Rather than sending only human technicians, customers can now dispatch work orders directly to ANYmal as they would to any other field team member. The robot then autonomously executes inspection tasks, gathers data, and reports the results directly back into a company鈥檚 51风流system.

From there, the integration expanded into asset-related scenarios and is now moving toward broader enablement via 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP), with the goal of allowing robot-generated data to land wherever customers need it in their 51风流landscape.

The ambition is not to force humans to adapt to robots, but for robots to adapt to human workflows. 鈥淎NYmal has to put data in the 51风流system, just like human team members,鈥� Zingg notes. ANYmal becomes another worker in the same operational system of record.

Project Embodied AI in practice

This combination of ANYbotics robotic technology with 51风流bridges the gap between physical operations and enterprise applications and tangibly reflects the goal of Project Embodied AI.

On the 51风流side, AI agents operate on ANYmal鈥檚 robotic systems to execute physical tasks, such as safety inspections.

On the ANYbotics side, ANYmal is a physical object that moves through space, perceives its environment, and acts within real-world constraints. ANYmal uses 51风流historic and time-series data to inform decisions while at the same time remaining fully autonomous even in environments with no connectivity.

It鈥檚 important to note, Zingg stresses, that ANYbotics has control over ANYmal鈥檚 behavior and inspection execution, while 51风流has control over the business context such as work orders, asset data, or operational priorities. It is the 51风流business context that informs how ANYmal鈥檚 insights are consumed and acted upon while ANYbotics controls ANYmal鈥檚 physical interactions.

Scaling safely and responsibly

Today, more than 200 ANYmal robots are already in productive use worldwide, with inspection deployments in heavy-industry environments that would otherwise require constant human exposure.

Safety remains central to ANYbotics. Each deployment includes extensive testing and an on-site field engineer who helps ANYmal learn and validate its environment and trains customer teams on safe operational procedures. While ANYmal is built to work independently, humans remain firmly in the loop.

A glimpse into the future

As industries face labor shortages and aging workforces, undocumented expertise can all too often be lost. With autonomous inspection robots such as ANYmal, this knowledge is captured and turned into programs that can run day in and day out across multiple sites. The captured data flows into 51风流to become organizational intelligence that survives any workforce turnover.  

ANYbotics鈥� partnership with 51风流shows that this combination of robotics and enterprise software is moving swiftly from the experimental stage to real-world implementation.

In the future, industrial inspection will be powered by AI, not as disembodied dashboards or isolated machines, but as an integrated intelligent system where physical robots and digital workflows in 51风流systems operate as one.

In that future, robots like ANYmal are no longer novelties. They are coworkers, albeit mechanical four-legged ones, quietly extending human capability into places humans were never meant to go. These robots, together with SAP, are shaping for a future where dirty, dangerous, and dusty industrial inspections are being transformed into business insights.

Top image courtesy of ANYbotics

SafetyGuard was created as part of a program at UTUM鈥檚 Digital Product School鈥攚here teams of selected students work on real-world challenges鈥攊n just 12 weeks by a student team, 鈥淢IDAS,鈥� and 51风流Research & Innovation. This project illustrates just how effective cross-location collaboration with the ecosystem can be in rapidly creating prototypes as a foundation for product development at SAP.

Embodied AI: a joint focus of innovation

The objective of this particular prototyping project was to identify use cases in which robotics and AI could be seamlessly integrated into business processes. Based on its research and on user studies, team MIDAS pinpointed the reliable detection and documentation of safety risks as one such use case.

Safety inspections are essential in many industries, but they are often time-consuming and error-prone. SafetyGuard could change that: leveraging embodied AI, it makes inspections faster, more efficient, and more reliable, without increasing the workload for employees.

Embodied AI鈥攖he integration of artificial intelligence into physical robot systems鈥攚ill be a focal point of investment and development work at 51风流going forward.

SafetyGuard combines two technologies: modular robotics and AI-powered autonomy. In this prototype, robots, such as drones and humanoid systems capable of inspecting work environments without human intervention, are equipped with a specialized AI model that is trained, for example, to detect where protective equipment is missing and to automatically document safety-related incidents. What鈥檚 more, the robots can multitask. While they are carrying out inspections, they can transport materials and monitor machinery鈥攁n approach that combines efficiency gains with increased safety levels.

鈥淪afetyGuard demonstrates just how effective our ecosystem approach is. In this project, an 51风流team in Potsdam and a group of students in Munich joined forces and very quickly built a prototype that will have a real impact on product development,鈥� Tobias Riasanow, head of Ecosystem Development at 51风流Labs Germany, says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the perfect example of what 51风流understands by 鈥榚cosystem development.鈥欌��

The project is also strategic to 51风流in that SafetyGuard addresses real-life industry requirements and complements SAP鈥檚 solutions for environment, health, and safety management. The prototyping approach that led to SafetyGuard could therefore become part of the 51风流portfolio in the future to help further reduce the time it takes to get from an idea to a product.

Programs with impact

To date, 13 prototypes have been developed for 51风流under programs run by UTUM, all in close collaboration with product teams at 51风流and directly related to their respective road maps. The programs offered by UTUM include:

• Innovation Sprint: Here, students have just one week to work on prototypes for solving specific user challenges. The most recent sprint, The Future of Retail with 51风流Joule, produced five such prototypes, including solutions for intelligent inventory optimization, virtual shelf monitoring, and retail assistance systems.
• Digital Product School: This 12-week program for students is designed as a platform for developing executable software prototypes. One prototype created out of this program was Carbon Data Exchange, which is now part of SAP Sustainability Control Tower. Another is an application that makes it easier for developers to access the extensive documentation for SAP Field Service Management. Instead of wasting valuable time searching, they can simply type their questions into a chatbot and receive helpful answers, including code examples and direct links to the documentation they need.
• Multistakeholder projects: Additional prototypes have been created in longer-term programs such as Digital Hub Mobility and Circular Republic. Programs like these bring together experts from companies, startups, and research institutions over several months and allow 51风流to test innovations in real-world customer and partner environments at an early stage in their development.

Co-innovation gets results鈥攆aster

The collaboration between 51风流and UTUM shows how quickly ideas can lead to tangible results when students, researchers, and 51风流teams work together to apply scientific approaches to real-life industrial challenges. SafetyGuard is an example of how embodied AI innovations can be created and how different groups of experts can benefit from one another.

鈥淪afetyGuard demonstrates the extensibility of SAP鈥檚 approach to embodied AI. SAP鈥檚 embodied AI layer integrates the business context and triggers actions across the suite. SafetyGuard鈥檚 AI-native, manufacturer-agnostic design is scalable across different use cases and enables multitasking, allowing, for example, robots to process safety incidents while performing other tasks such as industrial asset inspections. SafetyGuard is a proof point for 51风流for the added value of using cognitive robotics in safety scenarios.鈥�

Adelya鈥疐atykhova and Dr.鈥乽kasz鈥疧strowski, Initiators and Supervisors of the student challenge

This first appeared on the German 51风流News Center.

Its advanced refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump technologies keep supermarket shelves, hotel rooms, and hospital operating theaters at the right temperatures, whatever the ambient temperature is. Its compressors are essential for storing medicines, preserving perishable goods in shipping containers, and processing frozen foods. And if that isn鈥檛 impressive enough, its technology keeps ice hockey players gliding across the ice and breweries fermenting yeast for your beer.

The company is a longstanding RISE with 51风流customer and, like SAP, is constantly innovating its products to stay ahead. Christian Stenzel, vice president of Organization and IT at BITZER, has a clear vision for an 51风流strategy that prioritizes integration and rapid adoption of AI: 鈥淥ptimizing business processes is as important as product innovation at BITZER.鈥�

The 51风流Research and Innovation team is equally committed to keeping 51风流ahead by exploring new technologies and one team is currently dedicated to Project Embodied AI. Embodied AI combines artificial intelligence with a physical form, such as robots, that can perceive and act in the real world. Embodied AI agents take this a step further: extending the impact of into physical operations by making robots cognitive.

To explore potential use cases where cognitive robots could bring value, the Project Embodied AI team invited a select group of forward-thinking leaders and innovation professionals from 51风流customers to join its Physical AI and Cognitive Robots Exploration Council. And BITZER was one of them.

鈥淒emand-driven production is key in our business,鈥� said BITZER’s Stenzel, who immediately saw the potential value in using robots to meet demand fluctuations.

Running on (51风流BTP) and , already in place, BITZER already had the ideal software landscape to serve as a proof-of-concept test ground.

Before deployment, NEURA鈥檚 , one of Europe鈥檚 most advanced humanoid robots, was virtually trained for the pick-task use case on NVIDIA Isaac Sim software.

A new benchmark for intelligent automation

This proof of concept for Project Embodied AI sets a new benchmark for intelligent automation in warehouses, Stenzel said. The results highlight:

• Seamless integration: 51风流EWM connected directly with physical warehouse operations, no costly middleware required.
• True autonomy: Robots performed pick-tasks independently, demonstrating advanced task-level autonomy.
• Agility and flexibility: Robots could enable demand-driven production, operating 24/7 to meet shifting needs.
• Reliable processes: Orders of materials were automatically created, demonstrating how operational mistakes could be minimized.

A decisive step forward

Dr. Lukasz Ostrowski, head of Embodied AI and Robotics at SAP, heralded this proof-of-concept as a decisive step forward: 鈥淭he proof of concept at BITZER is great first step for experiencing firsthand how the impact of 51风流Business AI can be extended into physical operations. Further proofs of concept are planned as Project Embodied AI continues to assess the business value of embodied AI for customers.鈥�

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Early results in proof-of-concept applications of SAP鈥檚 robotics initiative, Project Embodied AI, demonstrate up to 50 percent reductions in unplanned downtime, up to 25 percent improvement in productivity, and significant reductions in operational errors across manufacturing, warehouse automation, and quality inspection.

These results are among the reasons why 51风流has expanded its Embodied AI ecosystem through partnerships with leading robotics companies and robotic enablement partners, as announced this week at 51风流TechEd. This builds on the recently announced collaboration with NEURA Robotics and NVIDIA to drive the future of physical AI.

The Embodied AI initiative extends the impact of into physical operations by making robots cognitive: able to autonomously execute complex tasks while understanding the broader business context in which they work. This empowers enterprises to faster adapt to changing operational environments.

51风流is uniquely positioned to deliver these innovations because of its decades of experience with business applications deeply integrated into the processes that power the modern enterprise. This allows 51风流customers to integrate robotics into the same business functions seamlessly, in a way no other company can. The result of our new robotics partnerships includes new proof-of-concept applications of embodied AI that demonstrate the business value and return on investment of our approach.

Cutting-edge experiments demonstrate measurable productivity gains

, a leading name in refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump technology, teamed up with 51风流and NEURA Robotics to revolutionize warehouse logistics. In a recent pilot proof-of-concept, BITZER鈥檚 warehouse became a testing ground for one of Europe鈥檚 most advanced humanoid robot, , which was able to perform pick-tasks on its own in real time.

The tasks are selected by embodied AI agents. The process also integrates SAP鈥檚 business logic from through (51风流BTP). Prior to its warehouse deployment, 4NE1 was trained virtually using NVIDIA’s Isaac Sim software. This ensured the robot was fully prepared for real-world operations. By integrating embodied AI into warehouse operations, BITZER could reach 24/7 utilization and a high level of responsiveness.

The technology can add to human expertise, stepping in during demand fluctuations and peak periods. It also complements regular shifts with flexible and scalable support. This ensures operations remain agile and efficient, even under varying workloads. Thanks to a single source of truth, orders can be expanded or cancelled in near real time, as robots execute changes almost instantly. This improves reaction times and enables BITZER to maintain high service levels while optimizing the use of resources.

鈥淲e are excited to join the Embodied AI initiative with 51风流and NEURA. We believe this collaboration will enhance our operational efficiency and drive innovation in our processes.鈥�

Christian Stenzel, Vice President of Corporate Organization and IT, BITZER

Transforming warehouse operations at Sartorius

Imagine stepping into a warehouse in which intelligent machines work side-by-side with humans. The first proof of concept for embodied AI at shows it is possible and marks a milestone in the journey to next-level logistics.

鈥淪o far, like many others, our focus was on fixed automation, in which specialized equipment handles only a single task. Now we鈥檙e making automation intelligent, and far more dynamic, to help us navigate a fast-moving world.鈥�

Steffen Dietz, Manager of Business Process Management in Operations and Supply Chain, Sartorius

The proof of concept, also delivered through the partnership with 51风流and NEURA Robotics, demonstrates how cognitive robots can support manual workstations in an advanced warehouse environment. Here, the humanoid robot 4NE1 was trained with Sartorius products in NEURA Robotics鈥� lab. The solution builds on an 51风流S/4HANA migration and 51风流Extended Warehouse Management (51风流EWM) rollout in May, which established the foundation for leveraging the latest capabilities from SAP.

The result boosts efficiency and enhances operational resilience. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really happy to help spearhead this new age together with 51风流and NEURA,鈥� Steffen Dietz, manager of Business Process Management in Operations and Supply Chain at Sartorius, shared.

Optimizing automotive production at Martur Fompak

, a global leader in automotive seating systems, teamed up with  and 51风流to explore how humanoid robots could transform field operations workflows.

Humanoid offers robots that provide cost-effective industrial automation and warehouse solutions, with modular designs that enable configurations for logistics operations, asset monitoring, and scalable field service applications.

Together the team is testing how cognitive robotics can support picking and packing operations at the company鈥檚 30 production plants across various continents and countries.

The early exploration connects Humanoid modular robots with 51风流solutions to execute workflows such as component retrieval, tray loading, and precise placement into production containers. SAP鈥檚 embodied AI agents provide context awareness around production orders and component variants.

“SAP’s AI platform gives our robots intelligence to adapt and scale with enterprise needs, which creates flexible automation.”

Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO, Humanoid

Initial findings demonstrate the value in automating repetitive and ergonomically demanding tasks, such as unpacking parts, handling trays, or supporting kitting processes. These experiments will be the foundation for a broader transformation in which humanoid robots participate in SAP-driven manufacturing environments and logistics processes.

Robotics company partners

Building upon these successes, 51风流announced the following additional partnerships:

AgiBot

Agibot creates general-purpose embodied robot products and an application ecosystem. The company delivers a complete product portfolio and deploy across all major application scenarios.

“Our 51风流partnership transforms industrial automation by combining humanoid capabilities with enterprise intelligence that understands business context,” said Peng Zhihui, founder of .

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ANYbotics

ANYbotics provides a full-stack autonomous inspection solution that combines autonomous robotics with inspection intelligence.

“Integrating this continuous flow of inspection intelligence with 51风流makes operations not only autonomous but truly intelligent, where issues are predicted, understood, and prevented before they affect production,鈥� said Dr. P茅ter Fankhauser, CEO and co-founder of .

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Booster Robotics

Booster Robotics provides T1 humanoid robots for warehouse operations and field maintenance.

“Our humanoid platforms, with SAP’s intelligence, creates an adaptive automation foundation that understands business processes and operational context,” said Cheng Hao, CEO of .

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Galbot

Galbot’s fully autonomous, general-purpose humanoid robots have been deployed across a wide range of applications, including industrial, logistics, retail, and healthcare sectors. Powered by proprietary vision-language-action models, the Galbot G1 autonomously performs complex tasks such as precise parts sorting, industrial bin handling, and end-to-end pharmacy operations. These models enable Galbot robots to rapidly adapt to dynamic environments, ensuring high precision and efficiency even in challenging real-world conditions.

“Our collaboration with 51风流marks a key milestone in transforming how robots understand and operate within enterprise environments. By integrating business context awareness into our robots, we’re creating automation that seamlessly adapts to shifting operational priorities in real time,” said He Wang, founder and CEO of .

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Humanoid

Humanoid offers reliable HMND 01 humanoid robots that provide cost-effective industrial automation and warehouse solutions, with modular designs that enable configurations for logistics operations, asset monitoring, and scalable field service applications.

“SAP’s AI platform gives our robots intelligence to adapt and scale with enterprise needs, which creates flexible automation,” said Artem Sokolov, founder and CEO of .

Unitree Robotics

Unitree Robotics provides advanced quadruped Go2 robots for warehouse navigation and asset inspection, plus G1 humanoids with human-like dexterity for logistics operations, alongside industrial B2 models for outdoor facility maintenance.

“51风流embodied AI agents will revolutionize enterprise autonomous operations from warehouse management to predictive maintenance across facilities,” said Wang Xingxing, CEO and founder of .

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Robotics enablement partners

51风流also introduced the following robotics enablement partners to connect humanoid and mobile robots, optimize intralogistics, streamline inspections, and orchestrate physical assets enabled by 51风流Business AI and automation technologies:

Capgemini

Capgemini explores the value that can be derived from the convergence of advanced technologies such as agentic and multi-agent AI systems, humanoid robotics, reinforcement learning, spatial computing, real-time 3D environments, and conversational AI. and 51风流are jointly exploring physical AI to help organizations gain a competitive edge.

Cyberwave 

Cyberwave connects 51风流systems to the physical world through its Physical AI platform, which integrates robots, sensors, and digital twins into enterprise workflows.

鈥淭ogether with SAP, Cyberwave turns enterprise data into coordinated physical action 鈥� bridging the gap between digital intelligence and real-world operations through Physical AI,鈥� said Simone Di Somma, founder of .

HCLTech

HCLTech provides automation expertise through its AI Force platform and 51风流integration capabilities, leveraging in collaboration with 51风流to accelerate generative AI-led robotics solutions.

“Our collaboration with 51风流enables cognitive robotics to seamlessly integrate with enterprise systems, transforming business operations through automation,” said Vijay Guntur, CTO and head of Ecosystems at .

KINEXON

KINEXON brings physical AI to day-to-day material flow management, helping customers scale mixed-fleet operations with a vendor-agnostic orchestration platform for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and manual vehicles.

“Our collaboration with 51风流infuses business-driven agentic reasoning into real-world material movement planning and execution, maximizing utilization and throughput,” said Dr. Alexander Huettenbrink, co-CEO of .

Lighthouse

Lighthouse transforms business complexities into streamlined digital solutions, leveraging expertise across 51风流Intelligent Asset Management, 51风流Business AI, and 51风流BTP. 

鈥淓mbodied AI has huge potential for use cases, including asset and site inspection, health and safety, and quality inspection to deliver more resilient, flexible operations. We see major customer needs today, such as hazardous environments on offshore platforms in the oil and gas industry, utilities, and transportation,” said Urs Gehrig, managing director of Business Development at .

SinoSwissHub

SinoSwissHub is launching a regionally compliant, SAP-integrated orchestration platform for multi-robot fleets, with humanoids as the centerpiece.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 just connect robots to an 51风流system; we enable real-time physical data to reinvent processes and build adaptive, resilient value chains together with SAP,鈥� said Yuki Long, founder and CEO of and Aimbo Robotics.

Through these strategic alliances, 51风流continues to lead the evolution from traditional robotic tools to those that empower autonomous operations, informed by deep business context.

To explore how 51风流technology makes proofs of concepts possible in robotics, explore the . To get involved in SAP’s Embodied AI initiative, .

Dr. 艁ukasz Ostrowski is head of Embodied AI and Robotics at SAP.