UMA

Numerama visited our lab in Paris for an in-depth video on the state of humanoid robotics. Remi Cadene, our CEO, explains where Europe can lead: AI, robots that do useful work in industry and safety. Thank you Théotim Raguet for spending time with the team! The video is in French, English subtitles on You Tube: https://lnkd.in/ebyVaeAw

We're selected among 2% of startups for SPRIND's Next Frontier AI Challenge This competitive program brings €125M to support teams building new AI paradigms. It will accelerate UMA’s world models that plan in latent space, simulating trajectories before a robot even moves, so safety and efficiency come by design. And because they can learn from unlabeled video rather than robot data alone, these world models can build an understanding of the physical world faster. Excited to work along 9 other teams toward the next generation of frontier AI labs. SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen

Robotics startup UMA launched in Paris nine months ago to high expectations: the company was founded by former employees from Hugging Face, Tesla and Google DeepMind. Earlier this month cofounder Remi Cadene (himself a Tesla and Hugging Face alum) lifted the veil on what Uma has been working on. He calls it “real-time learning”: an AI that learns from experience, acquiring new capabilities with every demonstration and adapting to new situations. With that, Cadène says Uma is building “frontier capabilities” that will enable robots to reach new levels of performance, robustness and precision. And he believes there is no better place to do so than in Europe. “Europe is the best market in the world,” he tells me. “It’s the market where the demographic crisis means demand for automation will be strongest, and it’s where the cost of labour is extremely expensive compared to other countries, particularly the US.” “There is an opportunity to create, from Europe, a global actor that will be the best.” Read the full interview: https://lnkd.in/eBfimfep

I rarely post, but this is worth sharing. After years managing operations at Le Wagon France (3 campuses, 150+ students quarterly, 50+ events), I started exploring the robotics space at Moon Surgical. It was my first step in this field which made me realize how helpful it can be for people in the near future. Now I'm joining UMA as Office Manager! UMA is building robots with human-level dexterity to enhance quality of life for everyone. My mission will be to help our team with people who pushed the boundaries at Tesla, Google DeepMind, and Hugging Face. Feel free to reach out if you want to learn more! https://uma.bot/

Behind Version 0: locomotion, simulation, and a lot of long days. Welcome Louis Le Lay, excited to see it walk further

Very first release from us! Main stage at MACHINA Summit ⭐ 1. AI:  Our neural network operates robustly for hours, with precision, adapting to what it sees. Tested to be resilient by intentionally interrupting it mid-task. 2. Northstar: Our robot design with a body to navigate various environments and hands capable of using tools. Designed to be approachable, calm, and competent. A robot that you would feel at ease having in your workplace and home. 3. Version 0: Our very first prototype that integrates AI, software, and hardware. Developed by a small team over 9 months. Designed and assembled in Paris. Full keynote video from Remi Cadene, our CEO in comment

UMA is one of the most-anticipated robotics companies to emerge from Europe in years. Its Co-Founder and CEO built Tesla Autopilot, developed the first neural networks for Optimus, and made robot learning open with LeRobot at Hugging Face. We are pleased to welcome Remi Cadene, Co-Founder and CEO of UMA, to the MACHINA Summit stage as a keynote speaker. UMA is Universal Mechanical Assistant, the Paris-based robotics company that emerged from stealth in December 2025 with the mission of building general-purpose mobile and humanoid robots for real-world work. Pilot programmes in logistics and manufacturing are set to begin in 2026. The company is backed by Greycroft, Unity Growth, Kima Ventures, and Factorial, alongside angel investors including Xavier Niel, Olivier Pomel, Clément Delangue and Thomas Wolf, and Yann LeCun. Before UMA, Rémi shipped Tesla Autopilot to millions of cars, developed the first neural networks for Tesla Optimus from scratch, and launched LeRobot at Hugging Face, the open-source robotics library now used across startups, universities, and research labs worldwide. He holds a PhD from Sorbonne Université and completed postdoctoral research at Brown University. At MACHINA, Rémi will discuss what it takes to move Physical AI from research and demonstration into industrial deployment, and why the next phase of the category will be shaped from Europe. MACHINA Summit, Europe's Leading Physical AI Event. Join us in Paris on 7 July at Station F. Grab your ticket: https://machinasummit.com/ #MACHINA2026 #PhysicalAI #Robotics

William Verstraete spoke at TechWolf AI Day in Belgium. From his time on the Tesla Optimus team to joining UMA, he shared a behind-the-scenes look at how fast physical AI is actually moving, and why the next chapter will be defined by those who move fast and think from first principles. He walked through the state of the art: where the field actually stands today and what’s next. It was good to see everyone engaging and pushing the field forward. At UMA, we are building general-purpose mobile and humanoid robots safe by design. We believe that knowledge shared is important.