In the last decades, humanoid robots have become more and more popular. At first, they were almost only used as research platforms, but with time they started to be seen as possible tools also for manufacturing. The progress in technology made them better in locomotion, manipulation, and in how they can interact with humans, so today they can be really considered for practical use in production. This thesis tries to analyze the role of humanoid robots in manufacturing with two main steps. The first part looks at the history of the main platforms developed from the 1970s until today. It shows their technical features, the goals they had, and how they are connected to industrial applications.