Munich stealth startup shows walking humanoid “Kyle,” targets early 2027 reveal

A boxy humanoid with exposed wiring is offering a first clear look at a new robotics venture in Munich. Its team calls the prototype Kyle. The company is still operating in stealth, but co-founder and CEO Nikolai Ensslen, best known for co-founding motion-control specialist Synapticon, says its first-generation product will be unveiled in early 2027.

Ensslen shared footage of the walking robot on September 14, saying the team had decided to show its alpha platform without blurring it for the first time. The machine's unfinished appearance is deliberate: it is an internal development platform, not the product the company intends to launch.

“I have watched a lot of humanoids walk over the last years,” Ensslen wrote. “In my honest assessment, this is one of the better gaits out there—and it is still our very early stage.”

Kyle is the test platform, not Generation 1

According to Ensslen, the rectangular frame reflects the team's rapid prototyping approach. He said the platform had previously been obscured in clips because it was a development mule, but progress on Generation 1 had made the team comfortable showing what came before it.

That distinction matters. The exposed structure offers a glimpse of the engineering process, rather than a preview of the finished robot's industrial design. Ensslen praised the contrast between its boxy appearance and its movement, and credited Martin Riedmiller and the team for the walking performance.

The footage establishes a locomotion milestone for the project. The post does not provide or specify the first product's tasks, specifications or commercial availability. Early 2027 is the stated unveiling target, not a delivery date.

A team with motion-control and robot-learning experience

Ensslen's move into a new venture was signaled before these videos appeared. In a December 2025 leadership announcement, Synapticon said its co-founder was stepping down from operational responsibilities to build a new Physical AI business. Simon Fischinger took over as CEO on January 1, 2026, while Ensslen remained a shareholder. The announcement emphasized separate leadership for Synapticon and the new company.

The team also includes Oliver Groth, whose X profile identifies him as a former Google DeepMind research scientist now at a stealth startup. His research biography describes work on robotic exploration and control in Riedmiller's team at DeepMind, following a PhD at Oxford.

In his response to the footage, Groth named the prototype Kyle and said the team had built it from scratch in a few months, with ownership of both the hardware and AI stack. He described it as a development sneak peek and said further updates would follow.

Boris Belousov has also shared the walking prototype, crediting the hardware, software and integration teams and describing reinforcement learning as the finishing ingredient. His current X profile identifies him as an AI engineer at a Munich stealth startup. His TU Darmstadt biography documents his earlier senior research and deputy department-head role at DFKI's Systems AI for Robot Learning department.

Ensslen's mention of Riedmiller adds another notable connection to the project. Riedmiller's research biography describes his background leading the Controls team at Google DeepMind and working on reinforcement learning. The new post does not specify his formal position at the venture.

Another European humanoid project comes into view

The posts arrive as Europe's humanoid sector becomes more visible. Our recent feature, The Humanoids of Europe: Built by Their Customers, examined seven companies and the customers shaping their development. This Munich team adds an earlier-stage project to watch, bringing together experience in motion control and robot learning.

For now, the public introduction is as much a recruitment message as a technology demonstration. Ensslen invited people who have built humanoids or shipped hardware at scale to join, while Groth also encouraged prospective colleagues to reach out.

The company has shown the machine it learned on. The next milestone will be seeing what that work becomes when Generation 1 is revealed.