IFS, the leading provider of Industrial AI software, announced at Industrial X Unleashed a strategic partnership with 1X Technologies (1X), to jointly industrialize humanoid robotics for asset-intensive industries. The collaboration will combine 1X’s humanoid robots with IFS.ai to develop and deploy production-ready robotics solutions alongside select customers across manufacturing, utilities, aviation and other industrial settings.
The partnership creates a unified digital-physical operational environment where intelligent robots work directly within enterprise business processes. By integrating humanoids with IFS.ai, IFS and 1X will deliver solutions that close the loop from physical execution to business intelligence, enabling real-time orchestration of robotic operations and seamless data flow between physical work and enterprise systems.
IFS and 1X will work with select customers to industrialize and validate humanoid robotics solutions across high-impact use cases: manufacturing and smart factory automation, IoT-enabled robotics feeding real-time operational data into IFS.ai, field service automation combining robotic hardware with intelligent maintenance orchestration, and vertical-specific applications for warehousing, aviation MRO to utility maintenance. This collaborative approach with pioneering customers will ensure solutions are production-ready and deliver measurable operational outcomes.
"This partnership represents an exciting opportunity to bring together the physical and digital AI worlds," said Christian Pedersen, Chief Product Officer at IFS. "By integrating 1X's advanced robotics with IFS.ai, we're creating solutions where intelligent machines and intelligent systems work in harmony. This isn't about adding robotics as a feature, it's about embedding intelligence in context, delivering real value to customers operating in asset-intensive environments. We're focused on making a meaningful difference for businesses that manufacture, service, and maintain critical assets."
"This collaboration creates a seamless connection between physical execution and intelligent business processes," said Jorge Milburn, EVP Sales & Operations at 1X Technologies. "By integrating our humanoids with IFS.ai, we're building solutions where robots don't just operate in isolation, they understand operational context, adapt to changing conditions, and deliver data that drives better decisions across the enterprise."
Building on Industrial AI Leadership
The Future Industrial Workforce: Humans, Digital Workers, and Robots
The partnership represents a critical step in IFS's vision of workforce multiplication in industrial operations. Industrial sectors face massive labor shortages: 1 million open jobs in the U.S. alone, half in manufacturing, while re-industrialization and energy demand accelerate.
Where operations today rely on 300 human workers barely covering demand, the future holds 3,000+ total workers: human experts elevated to orchestration and judgment calls, digital workers (AI agents) running diagnostics and workflows 24/7, and robotic workers inspecting assets and handling hazardous work in challenging environments. For the first time in industrial history, output is no longer limited by how many humans organizations can hire.
IFS orchestrates all three as one integrated system, the only platform designed to schedule, manage, govern, and optimize human, digital, and robotic workers together. The 1X partnership extends this capability into the physical world, enabling robotic workers to be deployed and managed within the same enterprise platform that runs operations.
The partnership builds on IFS's Industrial AI strategy, including the Nexus Black innovation accelerator and recent acquisitions of TheLoops and 7Bridges, which have positioned IFS to deliver agentic AI capabilities across customer operations. With advanced robotics integration, IFS continues to build the platform for the complete future of industrial work.
The integrated solutions will be showcased to IFS customers globally, with commercial availability planned for 2026.
