Industrial and commercial applications accounted for more than 70pc of humanoid robot shipments.
Humanoid robot sales have skyrocketed 272pc in a year as the maturing technology proves its use in industrial settings, a new report finds.
China remains the centre of this booming industry, holding more than 97pc of the market, while representing more than 85pc of the global demand.
Sales are further expected to triple year-over-year by 2026 to around 60,000 units, reported Smart Analytics Global (SAG), with industry-wide revenue expected to hit more than $1.6bn. The sector is expected to grow from nearly $5.5bn in 2026 to more than $50bn by 2035.
Shipments grew from just more than 5,000 units to more than 19,000 in the first half of this year, bolstered by government led support from China – including helping developers test and deploy robots – abundant funding and emerging businesses that are expanding through public listings in the country.
Hangzhou-based Unitree’s Shangai listing received nearly 10m retail orders, marking an oversubscription of more than 5,500 times, as the company readies to become mainland China’s first publicly traded humanoid robot maker.
Advancements in physical AI are also attracting innovative robotics start-ups, major tech companies and automakers.
Domestically, Shanghai-based Agibot overtook Unitree to become the world’s largest humanoid robot vendor capturing 44pc of the global market. Together, the two vendors account for 75pc of robot sales across the world. Behind the two leaders are Beijing-based Galbot, Shenzen’s Ubtech and Guangdong-based Leju.
Major sellers include half-size bipedal robots, which dominated Agibot’s its humanoid portfolio and wheeled robots designed for more efficient mobility, stability and cost, over fully human-like locomotion.
Home robots still far off
Industrial and commercial applications accounted for more than 70pc of humanoid robot shipments in the first half of this year – up from 50pc in the same time last year, SAG said.
The growth comes as vendors narrow in on manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and other structured commercial environments, where robots can perform defined tasks and demonstrate measurable productivity.
Advanced use cases such as bionic humanoid robots targeting human interaction, for example, are much slower to grow on account of technology and regulatory limitations around AI, and customer acceptance.
The analytics firm said general-purpose home-service humanoid robots, something Meta is working towards with its recent acquisition of Assured Robot Intelligence, is unlikely to reach mass market scale in the next five years.
Reports suggest that Meta has made “significant” investments in this category with goals to create humanoid robotic hardware to help with household chores.
Recent US restrictions on foreign-made robots could create additional issues for Chinese sellers looking to expand into mature markets, the report found.
Similarly, the EU’s scrutiny over AI applications across autonomous robots in manufacturing and personal assistance also places hurdles for growth.
Meanwhile, US Big Tech is aiming to expand into robots that interact with humans, including Amazon, which acquired New York-based Fauna Robotics in March. Across the pond, UK-based AI and robotics company Humanoid secured $152m in July, in the largest-ever Series A for a humanoid-first robotics company in Europe.
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