Addressing 50 million unfilled positions
The launch of AEON comes at a crucial time, as the global labor shortage has left approximately 50 million positions unfilled across industries such as manufacturing and logistics.
Hexagon’s industrial humanoid robot offers a promising technological solution to this pressing challenge, especially for sectors that demand skilled workers to perform precision tasks.
“Hexagon’s legacy in precision measurement and sensor technologies has always focused on enabling next-generation autonomy. Over the past decade, we have been driving robotics innovation across our divisions,” said Ola Rollén, Chairman of the Board. at Hexagon. He claims Hexagon to be “one of the best-placed companies in the world to lead and shape the field of humanoid robotics.”
Technical capabilities and Nvidia partnership
AEON’s development is built on NVIDIA’s advanced three-computer robotics platform, which integrates AI supercomputers for training, the NVIDIA Omniverse platform for simulation and testing, and NVIDIA IGX Thor robotic computers for real-time operational control.
This robust technological framework empowers AEON to handle a wide range of tasks, from reality capture and digital twin creation to precision manipulation and part inspection.
“The age of general-purpose robotics has arrived, thanks to breakthroughs in simulation and physical AI,” said Deepu Talla, vice president of robotics and edge AI at NVIDIA. “Hexagon’s new AEON humanoid exemplifies the power of NVIDIA’s three-computer robotics platform and marks a significant step forward in tackling critical challenges faced by industry.”
AEON’s capabilities are defined by four key strengths:
1. Agility: Leveraging precision measurement technologies for highly accurate movements
2. Awareness: Utilizing multimodal sensor fusion for enhanced perception
3. Versatility: Performing a broad spectrum of industrial tasks
4. Power Autonomy: Featuring an innovative battery-swapping system that eliminates downtime for recharging
Accelerated development through simulation
One of the most notable aspects of AEON’s development is the accelerated training timeline achieved through simulation. This simulation-first approach enabled Hexagon to fast-track its robotic development, allowing AEON to master core locomotion skills in just two to three weeks — rather than five to six months — before real-world deployment. The industrial humanoid robot utilizes NVIDIA Isaac Sim for complex action simulation and NVIDIA Isaac Lab for reinforcement learning, demonstrating how advanced simulation environments can dramatically reduce development cycles in robotics.
