Factory readiness checklist for a humanoid robot deployment

What to sort out before a humanoid robot arrives - the first task, floor, power and network, safety zoning, your people and footage - with a checklist.

Motion1 Inc. · 2026-11-03

A humanoid deployment runs on a fixed schedule once it starts. Most reach autonomous operation in 12 to 15 weeks. The weeks before that schedule starts are yours, and what you do with them decides how much of the 12 to 15 weeks goes into the robot and how much goes into fixing the site around it.

This checklist covers those weeks: the first task, the floor, power and network, safety zoning, the people involved and the footage to collect. It stops where the deployment begins. For what happens from week one, read your first humanoid deployment, week by week.

What "ready" means before a humanoid arrives

A site is ready for a humanoid when four things are true. You have chosen one task with a clear measure of success. The station where the robot will work has room, a level floor, steady light, power and network coverage. Someone on your team owns the project and has time for it. And your staff, including their representatives where you have them, know what is coming and why.

You do not need a robotics team, new buildings or a rebuilt line. A humanoid is built to work in spaces designed for people. Readiness means the space and the people around that one station, nothing larger.

Pick the first task: repetitive, bounded, measurable

Choose a task that repeats many times a shift, happens at one station or along one short route, and has a result you can count. Good first tasks are picking, packing, palletising, machine feeding and line-side logistics. A first task should not depend on judgement calls that your operators struggle to explain.

Three questions sort candidate tasks:

Does it repeat? The robot learns from many cycles. A task done hundreds of times a shift gives it more to learn from than one done twice a day.
Is it bounded? One station, a known set of parts or boxes, a clear start and end. Tasks that wander across the plant come later.
Can you measure it? Agree on the measure now: cycles per hour, completion rate, error rate. If you cannot measure it today with people, you will not be able to judge the robot either.

Start with one task. A second task at the same station is easier once the first runs. The task that is hardest to staff is often a good candidate, but only if it also passes the three questions.

Not every task suits a humanoid. If a fixed arm or a conveyor does the job better, an honest assessment will tell you so.

The floor: space, clearances, surfaces, lighting

The robot needs room to work, a floor it can stand and move on, and light its cameras can rely on. Walk the station with a tape measure and a phone camera before anyone else does.

Space. Measure the working area, including where the robot reaches, turns and puts things down. Leave room for the safety zone around it, which the risk assessment will size. Note anything that gets parked there "temporarily".
Clearances. Check aisle widths along any route the robot will take, and where forklifts, pallet trucks and people cross that route. Shared crossings are where the safety zoning work concentrates.
Surfaces. Look for slopes, steps, drains, cable covers, loose mats and floors that get wet or oily. Fix what you can now; note what you cannot.
Lighting. The robot sees with cameras. Look for deep shadows, glare on shiny surfaces and sunlight that moves across the station during the day. Steady, even light is what you want.
Heights. Measure the surfaces the robot works at: bench, conveyor, shelf, pallet stack. Write the heights down. They shape which robot fits.

Power, network and charging

Plan a charging spot, a power outlet and reliable network coverage at the station before the robot ships. Humanoids run on batteries, and runtime per charge differs from robot to robot.

Power. Identify an outlet near the station for the charger, and check it with your maintenance team against the charger's requirements once you know the robot.
Charging. Pick a charging or battery-swap spot close to the station, out of traffic, and decide how charging fits your shift pattern.
Network. Test the wireless signal at the exact spot where the robot will work, during a busy shift. The robot sends data, receives software updates and stays reachable by remote operators, so dead spots matter.
IT access. Bring your IT team in early. The robot and its fleet software need network access, and your security rules will decide how. Approvals often take longer than the technical work.

Safety zoning and the risk assessment you will need

Every humanoid deployment needs a risk assessment for your site, your task and your people, and the safety zones come out of it. The robot maker covers the robot itself. Your deployment adds the hazards of your floor, your parts and the people who walk past.

You do not write the risk assessment before the deployment starts, but you can prepare for it:

Map who passes the station. Operators, maintenance, forklift drivers, visitors. Note when and how often.
List handover points. Anywhere a person gives or takes something from the robot.
Note what the robot handles. Weight, sharp edges, heat, fragility, and what happens if it drops something.
Collect your existing safety documents. Current risk assessments, emergency stop locations and site rules for that area.

Expect the zoning to combine the robot slowing and stopping when people come close with marked zones and emergency stops. Whether any area needs a physical barrier is a question for the risk assessment. Our guide to humanoid robot safety and EU compliance covers the standards and regulations involved.

People: operators, maintenance, staff representatives

Name one owner for the project, the operators who know the task best, and a maintenance contact, and tell your staff early. What a deployment asks of your team is time.

Owner. One person, usually an operations or plant manager, who makes decisions, books time with the team and signs off results.
Expert operators. Two or three people who do the task well. They will record the task and help judge whether the robot does it right.
Maintenance contact. Someone who knows the station's power, equipment and quirks, and who will be the robot's first point of contact on site.
IT contact. For network access and security approvals.
Staff representatives. In many European countries, bringing in technology that changes how people work requires informing or consulting a works council or other staff representatives. Check your national rules and start that conversation before the robot arrives.

Tell the people at the station what the robot will do, what it will not do, and what changes for them. The operators who record the task are the robot's first teachers, and they will notice how you involve them.

Data: what to record before the visit

Film the task on a phone from a few angles, across a normal shift, and write down the cycle time and the exceptions. That footage is what an assessment starts from.

Video. Film the full task end to end, from the side and from above if you can. Include a few cycles where something goes wrong: a misplaced box, a jammed part, a full pallet.
Photos. Take pictures of the station, the parts or boxes, the surfaces the robot works at and the route to and from it.
Numbers. Cycles per hour, shifts per day, how many people do the task today, and how often it stops.
Exceptions. Ask your operators what they do when things go wrong. Write down the answers. These are the cases the robot will need to learn.

Later, during the deployment, your operators record the task again wearing a headset camera, and a Motion operator teaches the robot through teleoperation. The phone footage comes first, and it decides whether the task is worth that work. How humanoid robots learn a factory job explains the steps after it.

The readiness checklist

| Area | Check | Owner | |---|---|---| | Task | One task chosen that repeats, stays at one station or route, and has a measure | Operations manager | | Task | Success measure agreed: cycles per hour, completion rate or error rate | Operations manager | | Task | Current performance with people measured as a baseline | Shift supervisor | | Floor | Working area and safety zone space measured | Maintenance | | Floor | Aisles, crossings and shared routes mapped | Maintenance | | Floor | Slopes, steps, drains, mats and wet or oily patches noted or fixed | Maintenance | | Floor | Lighting checked for shadows, glare and moving sunlight | Maintenance | | Floor | Working heights of benches, conveyors, shelves and pallets written down | Shift supervisor | | Power | Outlet for the charger identified near the station | Maintenance | | Power | Charging or battery-swap spot chosen, out of traffic | Operations manager | | Network | Wireless signal tested at the station during a busy shift | IT | | Network | IT and security approval process started for robot and fleet software access | IT | | Safety | People, vehicles and handover points around the station mapped | Safety officer | | Safety | Handled items listed by weight, edges, heat and fragility | Shift supervisor | | Safety | Existing risk assessments, emergency stops and site rules collected | Safety officer | | People | Project owner named, with time set aside | Plant manager | | People | Two or three expert operators chosen to record the task | Shift supervisor | | People | Maintenance and IT contacts named | Plant manager | | People | Staff representatives informed or consulted under national rules | HR | | People | Staff at the station told what changes and why | Operations manager | | Data | Task filmed end to end, from more than one angle, including exceptions | Expert operator | | Data | Station, parts and route photographed | Expert operator | | Data | Cycle time, shifts, headcount and stoppages written down | Shift supervisor |

You do not need every row ticked before a first conversation. The task, the footage and the numbers are enough to start. Book a 30-minute call, describe the task and add your photos or video. We prepare the assessment before the call and tell you how well a humanoid fits the task, which robot suits it, and what on the site would need to change.

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