Italian tier-1 supplier SAPA is set to deploy French company Wandercraft’s Calvin-40, an autonomous heavy-payload humanoid robot, in its industrial operations.

The partnership with SAPA will build on Wandercraft’s existing partnership with Renault Group and expand their industrial network, uniting perspectives from original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and Tier 1 suppliers to accelerate deployment and learning in real-world environments.

According to Wandercraft, it becomes the first robotics company to expand its humanoid footprint across an OEM and a Tier 1, with planned deployments in two countries, within just five months of its reveal.

It also marks a first for Italy, as SAPA becomes the country’s first industrial manufacturer to formally commit to humanoid robotics as part of its automation roadmap.

“We don’t believe in building a general-purpose robot and hoping customers figure out how to use it,” said Matthieu Masselin, CEO and co-founder of Wandercraft. “Our strategy is deliberately use-case driven, meaning Calvin-40 is modular by design and will build towards that generalisable future starting from the point of usefulness. Partnering with SAPA fits perfectly into our strategy to first deploy use cases that are valuable across the entire industry and support the full value chain as it evolves toward the future of automation.”

“SAPA has always stood at the forefront of innovation, not just in manufacturing components, but in driving leadership in industrial automation,” said Management Team of SAPA Group. “Our recent acquisition of Megatech and this partnership with Wandercraft reinforce that mindset. This is about investing in what’s next — not just in how we manufacture parts, but in how we run the factory itself. We are more motivated than ever to explore humanoid robotics and operational efficiencies that scale across tasks and countries, enabling SAPA to lead the next wave of manufacturing transformation starting right here in Italy.”