Italy’s AdapTronics has won Infineon’s 2026 Startup Challenge for humanoid robotics with a gripping technology designed to handle varied objects without conventional suction cups or mechanical grippers. Infineon announced the winners on October 19 after a four-month development and mentoring program.
More than 100 startups from 29 countries applied, with 15 selected to present at the demo day during EBSCON in Graz, Austria. Participants worked on technologies for object manipulation, environmental perception and precise robotic movement.
South Korea’s COSMOKE placed second with COSKIN, a flexible magnetic tactile-sensing technology. Germany’s TECHiFAB took third for an in-memory computing approach to real-time motor control, highlighting sensing and actuation alongside the winning handling system.
AdapTronics will join Infineon’s Startup Co-Innovation Program, with collaboration due to begin at a November event in Munich. The announcement describes development support and a technology partnership, rather than a disclosed investment amount or a volume supply agreement.
The award addresses a practical problem covered in RobotsBeat’s gripper guide: reliable handling depends on object surfaces, contact and the complete pick-and-place cycle. Commercial adoption will require application-specific evidence that the new gripping approach works repeatedly under customers’ operating conditions.
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