After four months of intensive development and mentoring, the results are in for the Infineon Startup Challenge 2026. Out of more than 100 applicants from across Europe and Asia, 15 finalists pitched their physical AI and robotics solutions to a global jury of VCs and industry experts at the EBSCON demo day in Graz, Austria.
The core focus of Infineon Startup Challenge 2026 was to build foundational technologies that will drive the next generation of humanoid robots, giving them the ability to perceive, interact, manipulate objects, and move with unprecedented precision.
Here are the three innovators leading the charge:
- 1st Place: AdapTronics S.r.l. (Italy) AdapTronics completely rethought how robots handle objects. Instead of relying on traditional suction cups or mechanical grippers, they developed a versatile gripping technology that safely handles a massive variety of shapes and materials. It’s exactly the kind of flexible manipulation next-gen humanoids need, with immediate applications in logistics, packaging, and even space robotics. Founder and CEO Lorenzo Agostini noted that the win validates their vision, highlighting the invaluable access to Infineon’s technology experts and innovation network.
- 2nd Place: COSMOKE (South Korea) COSMOKE took the podium with COSKIN, a flexible, magnetic tactile sensing technology that essentially gives robots a sense of touch. By allowing humanoids to perceive pressure and physical interactions, COSKIN provides the critical feedback loop required for highly dexterous movement and safe human-robot collaboration.
- 3rd Place: TECHiFAB (Germany) Tackling physical AI at the hardware level, TECHiFAB introduced an In-Memory Computing approach to real-time motor control. By embedding intelligence directly into the robotic drivetrain, their solution delivers faster, safer, and highly energy-efficient actuator control.
Great ideas need robust hardware to get off the ground. To help these startups move rapidly from concept to scalable prototype during the challenge, Infineon opened up its toolkit. Teams were given full access to Environmental Sensing, Artificial Skin, Motor Control, and Visual Feedback kits, alongside Infineon’s in-house AI software platforms.
The challenge is a key pipeline for the global Infineon Startup Co-Innovation Program. As the first-place winner, AdapTronics now officially joins the program to scale their technology alongside Infineon, a partnership that will officially kick off at the Startup Night in Munich this November.
Infineon is also exploring ongoing collaborations with several other promising participants. By pairing the sheer agility of these startups with Infineon’s global scale and hardware expertise, the program is actively accelerating the timeline for next-generation physical AI.
Leadership Comments
“Strategic collaboration with startups creates a win-win situation, combining novel ideas with industrially proven semiconductor technologies and thereby accelerating innovative, market-ready applications,” said Sören Jehmlich, Vice President Ventures, Startups & Ecosystems at Infineon. “The Startup Challenge is a key pillar of our innovation culture, bringing together entrepreneurial courage, technological expertise and rapid implementation.”
“The quality of innovation we have seen throughout this year’s challenge has been remarkable. Startups from Europe and Asia demonstrated how diverse perspectives and technologies can come together to solve some of the most important challenges in humanoid robotics. Programs like the Infineon Startup Challenge are essential for 
connecting innovators across regions and accelerating the path from breakthrough ideas to real-world impact,” highlights Jerry Park, Director Asia Pacific at Infineon.
“Humanoid robots are the most complex form of physical AI and highly relevant for Infineon,” said Dirk Geiger, Senior Director & Team Lead Humanoid Robotics at Infineon. “They combine power, sensing, real-time connectivity, safety and security with software and AI compute, turning machines into autonomous systems. No single company can master this complexity alone. With the Startup Challenge, we gave startups early access to our hardware stack as well as our software and system offering and brought them together with our partners and application experts. The solutions shown prove how quickly ideas can become building blocks for scalable humanoid platforms and give valuable insight into where the technology is heading.”
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