Bridging the Gap: How Manuel Galliker’s "Enact" is Reshaping European Industrial Robotics

By Engineering Correspondent
October 26, 2026

In the high-stakes world of modern robotics, the narrative has long been dominated by Silicon Valley’s obsession with the "general-purpose humanoid"—machines designed to fold laundry, navigate domestic kitchens, or perform social tasks in human environments. However, a significant pivot is occurring within the European automation sector. Manuel Yves Galliker, a former lead engineer at the renowned robotics firm 1X, has emerged from stealth mode with a fresh vision and a substantial injection of capital, signaling that the future of robotics may lie not in our living rooms, but on the factory floors of the European Mittelstand.

Galliker’s new venture, Enact, has successfully secured $30 million in funding. Unlike his peers across the Atlantic, Galliker is eschewing the "hype" of consumer-facing humanoids to focus on a core technical challenge that has plagued industrial automation for decades: the precision of force measurement directly at the point of drive.

The Core Technical Innovation: Sensing Force at the Source

The primary hurdle in traditional industrial robotics is the "blindness" of the machine. Most robotic arms operate through rigid programming, relying on internal encoders to know where their joints are, but often lacking a sensitive "sense of touch" regarding the physical force they exert on their environment. When a robot handles a delicate component or interacts with a human coworker, this lack of tactile feedback creates safety risks and efficiency bottlenecks.

Enact is developing a new breed of robotic actuators that integrate force-measurement sensors directly into the drive mechanism. By moving the sensor technology from the peripheral end-effectors to the core drive system, Galliker aims to enable robots that are inherently "aware" of the forces they encounter. This allows for a level of dexterity and safety that traditional industrial robots—which often require heavy safety cages—cannot match.

"We aren’t trying to build a butler," Galliker stated in a recent briefing. "We are building the musculoskeletal foundation for machines that can actually work alongside humans in an industrial setting, providing the sensitivity required for complex assembly tasks that currently require human hands."

Chronology of a Shift in Strategy

The trajectory of Enact mirrors a growing disillusionment among European engineers with the "consumer-AI" bubble.

• 2023–2024: During his tenure at 1X, Galliker was deeply involved in the development of sophisticated humanoids. However, he observed that while these machines were impressive, the commercial viability of domestic robots remained constrained by cost, energy consumption, and the unpredictable nature of home environments.
• Late 2024: Galliker begins drafting the white paper for a company that would prioritize "industrial utility over human-mimicry." He focuses on the specific requirements of the European manufacturing base: small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that need flexible, easy-to-deploy automation rather than massive, bespoke assembly lines.
• Early 2025: The formation of Enact. The team begins prototyping, focusing on high-torque, high-sensitivity actuators that can be retrofitted or modularized for existing machinery.
• October 2026: The announcement of a $30 million funding round. The investment, led by a consortium of European industrial venture capitalists, signals a strong regional backing for "sovereign" robotics technology—technology designed to support the specific needs of German, Swiss, and Northern Italian manufacturers.

Supporting Data: Why the Mittelstand is the Target

The European Mittelstand represents the backbone of the continent’s economy. These companies are characterized by high-quality specialized manufacturing, but they are currently facing a dual crisis: a severe shortage of skilled labor and the need for rapid, flexible automation to remain competitive against global giants.

Data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) suggests that while global robot installations are growing, the "adoption gap" remains wide for smaller firms. The reasons are consistent:

1. Complexity: Traditional industrial robots require expensive integrators.
2. Rigidity: Once installed, they are difficult to repurpose.
3. Safety Costs: The cost of implementing safety infrastructure often exceeds the cost of the robot itself.

Enact’s solution addresses these by making the robot "force-aware." If a robot can detect a collision or a resistance change within milliseconds, it no longer needs a safety cage. This drastically reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) for an SME. With a 30% reduction in installation time and a 40% reduction in footprint, the technology is tailored to factories where space and budgets are at a premium.

Official Perspectives and Industry Reception

Industry analysts have greeted the news of Enact’s funding with cautious optimism. Dr. Elena Fischer, a senior researcher in robotics at the Technical University of Munich, notes: "The market is flooded with ‘AI-brains’ for robots, but we are seeing a dearth of innovation in the ‘muscles.’ Manuel Galliker’s focus on the actuator level is fundamentally sound. By solving the sensing problem at the hardware level, he is creating a platform that is ‘AI-ready’ without needing to rely on massive, power-hungry neural networks to compensate for mechanical clumsiness."

However, investors and partners remain cognizant of the competitive landscape. While the consumer humanoid market is currently cooling, the industrial space is dominated by entrenched players like Fanuc, ABB, and KUKA. The challenge for Enact will not be the technology itself, but the "go-to-market" strategy. Can a startup convince conservative European factory owners to replace, or augment, their existing, battle-tested hardware with new, force-sensitive actuators?

Galliker’s response to this is a "phased integration" model. Enact is not selling full-blown humanoid workers, but rather modular actuator systems that can be integrated into existing machine designs. This lowers the barrier to entry significantly.

Broader Implications: A New Era of "Collaborative Industrialism"

The rise of Enact signals a potential shift in the European approach to the AI and Robotics revolution. Rather than chasing the "general purpose" dream, European engineers are leaning into their traditional strength: high-precision mechanical engineering augmented by modern sensor-AI.

If successful, this approach could have profound implications for the labor market. By providing robots that can safely and accurately perform tasks alongside humans, the technology does not necessarily replace the worker; rather, it "up-skills" the factory floor. It allows human workers to step back from dangerous, repetitive, or ergonomically straining tasks, taking on roles as supervisors and coordinators of these sensitive, "force-aware" systems.

Furthermore, the focus on the Mittelstand ensures that the economic benefits of this robotics revolution stay within Europe. By tailoring technology to the specific industrial ecosystem of the continent, Galliker is creating a moat that Silicon Valley’s "one-size-fits-all" domestic robots will find difficult to cross.

As we look toward 2027, the success of Enact will be a litmus test. Will the future of robotics be defined by machines that look like us, or by machines that understand the physical world as well as we do? For the factories of the Mittelstand, the answer is increasingly clear: they don’t need a robot that can walk the dog; they need a robot that can handle a delicate sensor housing with the grace of a human master craftsman.

In the quiet, intense laboratories of Enact, Manuel Galliker is betting that the most revolutionary thing a robot can do is not to think like a human, but to feel the world with the same nuance as one. The coming year will determine if that bet pays off in the form of a more efficient, safer, and more robust European manufacturing sector.