Genesis AI bets against humanoid trend with general-purpose robot ‘Eno’

3 min readUpdated: Jun 20, 2026 08:44 AM IST

Genesis AI's Eno robot combines a compact wheeled base with an extendable modular body for industrial work. (Image: Gensis AI)

French robotics startup Genesis AI has unveiled Eno, its first general-purpose robot, taking a markedly different approach from rivals that are racing to build humanoid machines resembling human workers. Backed by former Google chief Eric Schmidt and armed with a reported $105 million seed funding round, Genesis AI is betting that businesses care more about capability than appearance.

While much of the industry’s attention has focused on humanoid robots, Genesis AI is taking a different path. Rather than building a robot that looks like a coworker, the company is focused on creating one that can perform the work efficiently.

The company describes Eno as a robot designed to move, adapt, and learn continuously across a wide range of workplaces, from factories and laboratories to hospitals, hotels and eventually homes.

Proprietary robotic hands

Unlike humanoid robots being developed by companies such as Tesla and Figure AI, Eno does not attempt to replicate the human form. Instead, it combines a wheeled base with an adjustable tower of articulated panels that can extend vertically during operation and fold down into a compact form roughly the size of a suitcase for storage and transport.

The robot’s most human-like feature is its hands.

Genesis AI says Eno is equipped with proprietary robotic hands featuring 20 active, back-drivable degrees of freedom and dimensions that match human hands one-to-one. This allows the robot to use tools, equipment, and workspaces already designed for people without requiring costly modifications.

Tasks Eno can perform

Powering the robot is GENE, Genesis AI’s robotics-focused foundation model. The company says GENE enables Eno to function as a “true physical agent” capable of reasoning, adapting and managing complex tasks from start to finish rather than simply executing pre-programmed commands.

According to Genesis AI, Eno can understand context, retain memory, adjust to changing conditions, and complete long-horizon tasks with millimetre-level precision.

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To help build trust between humans and robots, Genesis AI also plans to offer an optional cognitive interface that displays the robot’s intent, reasoning process, and operational status in real time. The company says the feature is designed to make Eno’s decisions more transparent to workers interacting with it.

The company envisions the robot handling entire workflows, such as keeping production lines supplied, coordinating logistics operations or preparing facilities for the next shift.

Genesis AI revealed that dozens of Eno units have already been built, with production expected to scale later this year. Initial deployments will target industrial customers in logistics, manufacturing, and laboratory environments. The company plans to expand into hospitality and healthcare settings before eventually bringing the technology into consumer applications.

The launch arrives amid growing competition in the robotics industry, where companies are increasingly combining advances in artificial intelligence, computer vision and robotic manipulation to create versatile machines capable of performing diverse real-world tasks.

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With Eric Schmidt’s backing, significant funding and a design centred on human-level dexterity rather than human appearance, Eno could challenge assumptions about what the future of general-purpose robotics will look like.