What an incredible gathering at the IHF26.
The second International Humanoid Forum (IHF), a Switzerland-based, world-wide leading event dedicated to the emergence of humanoid robotics as a real-world technology, took place from 19 – 20 February 2026 at the Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/Bienne.
The International Humanoid Forum brought ogether international leaders from industry, research, startups, and public institutions to examine the transition at eye level: from laboratory breakthroughs to practical deployment, from technical feasibility to economic and societal impact. The IHF positions Switzerland — and the Biel/Bienne region in particular — as a place where technological breakthroughs meet engineering discipline and social responsibility.
Agenda highlights
The forum featured keynotes and panel discussions with internationally renowned experts covering the full spectrum from fundamental research to industrial deployment:
- Dr. Moritz Bächer, Lab Director at Disney Research Imagineering in Zurich, presents how deep reinforcement learning is used to bring expressive robotic characters to life, offering insights into advanced learning-based control systems.
- Alexander Schwarz, Robotics Solution Architect at NVIDIA, explores how end-to-end physical AI systems are built using high-fidelity simulation, world foundation models, and scalable toolchains that bridge digital twins and real hardware.
- Prof. Dr. Tamim Asfour, Spokesperson of the Robotics Institute Germany at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), addresses the remaining challenges on the path toward general-purpose humanoid robots, from manipulation and cognition to ethical and trustworthy behavior.
- Prof. Dr. Yulia Sandamirskaya, Head of the research center “Cognitive Computing in Life Sciences” at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), delivers an academic keynote on cognitive systems and their role in enabling adaptive, intelligent humanoid behavior.
- Ryan Finnigan, Senior vice president at the European robotics startup Humanoid.ai, shares an industry perspective focused on the practical deployment of humanoid robots in industrial environments.
- Lukas M. Ziegler, humanoid robotics & AI evangelist, provides a global status quo of humanoid robotics, examining technological breakthroughs, commercial dynamics, and ecosystem maturity — and why the coming years will be decisive for the field.
Beyond the main program, the forum hosted a Startup Pitch Arena featuring emerging companies from around the world, a humanoid exhibition showcasing cutting-edge robotic technologies and concrete use cases, and hands-on workshops addressing key technical and societal challenges, including live demonstrations of humanoid robot programming.
Thank you to all our speakers, participants and sponsors for being part of the International Humanoid Forum.
The conversations started here do not end today. We look forward to continuing the exchange, strengthening collaborations, and advancing the future of humanoid technologies together.
Save the Date 2027: 25 and 26 February 2027
Organizers
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