A New Kind of Partnership: Bringing Collaborative Humanoid Robots Into U.S. Workplaces
Space Continuum, a Black-owned innovation and design firm, has formed a strategic partnership with German robotics company NEURA Robotics to introduce a new generation of collaborative humanoid robots to workplaces across the United States. The move comes as sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, and education continue to face persistent labor shortages.
Founded by designer and technologist John Johnson, Space Continuum has built a reputation for integrating physical environments with emerging technologies, with work spanning Rush University Medical Center, the University of Chicago, and the Barack Obama Presidential Library. This new partnership extends that approach from architectural innovation into workforce transformation.
Joshua Johnson (left) and John Johnson of Space Continuum are partnering with NEURA
At the center of the collaboration are NEURA’s cognitive robots, including the 4NE1 humanoid and the MiPA personal assistant. Unlike earlier automation systems built for fixed, repetitive tasks, these robots are designed to interpret human gestures, respond to voice commands, and navigate real-world environments, enabling them to support people rather than replace them.
In hospitals, MiPA can deliver meals, offer medication reminders, and integrate with patient health monitors. In classrooms, it provides individualized tutoring and accessibility assistance. In hospitality, it helps handle room service and guest support. Meanwhile, 4NE1 is engineered for industrial environments, assisting workers on production lines in real time.
The need is widespread. U.S. hospitals anticipate more than 193,000 open nursing roles per year through 2032, while nearly two-thirds of U.S. hotels report ongoing staffing shortages.
NEURA’s MiPA (My Intelligent Personal Assistant) robot
“Robots alone don’t solve the problem,” said Joshua Johnson, Space Continuum’s president. “But robots that are trained to collaborate—with awareness, sensitivity, and reliability—can help reduce burnout, stabilize operations, and make work more humane. This is about building environments where people and robots support one another.”
The partnership signals a shift in how organizations respond to workforce strain: not with replacement, but with reinforcement.
