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Theme Park Deployment: AgiBot and Chimelong launched China's largest tourism-focused robot deployment, putting 300 humanoid units to work as guides, dancers, and receptionists.

Sports Showcase: Beijing-based Galbot demonstrated its humanoid robot's resilience and capability by having it return tennis serves alongside a pro player at the China Open.

Mass Live Performance: Shanghai hosted a record-breaking live performance featuring 19 Unitree humanoid robots dancing alongside 120 human performers at the WorldSkills Competition.

Museum Tour Guide: Leju Robot's Kuavo humanoid began serving visitors at the Suzhou Bay Museum by offering interactive real-time tour explanations.

Industrial Safety Inspection: DEEP Robotics showcased its quadruped robot conducting routine safety checks and hazard detection inside a grain warehouse.

Embodied AI Crowdsourcing: China officially recognized "data collector" as a formal job category as companies like Shanghai-based Maniformer monetize crowdsourced home activity videos to train AI models.

1.Mech-Mind CEO sparked major social media debate after publicly accusing high-valuation robotics startups of inflating revenue through related-party transactions. 2.Galbot's response denying all rumors and taking legal action. 3. Agibot A3 Ultra: Real-world commercial deployments in hotels, retail, supermarkets, and metro inspection stations. 4. Unitree G1+: Upgraded mobility, perception, and battery capabilities priced at RMB 95,000 (~$13,300 USD). Blue Worm Mantis Standard: Budget-friendly option hitting the market starting at 9,800 yuan. 5. http://JD.com prioritizes traditional automation, autonomous vehicles, and drones over humanoid robots. 6. UBTECH releases the world's first white paper on humanoid robot ethics; 7.Qingtianzu (BotShare) launches Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) offerings.

The World Humanoid Robot Games are more than a sports competition — they also test autonomy, dexterous manipulation and real-world applications.

Agibot topped the medal table, with strong performances in dexterous-hand, task and sports events.

Galbot, Spirit AI, LinkerBot and X-Humanoid also showed progress in real-world and autonomous tasks.

Robot demonstrations still need to be viewed carefully: success in a competition does not always mean reliable commercial deployment.

XPeng’s robotics business raised more than US$900 million in new funding.

Unitree’s IPO showed both the excitement and volatility surrounding China’s humanoid robot sector.

Unitree’s IPO remains in the spotlight after its share price surged more than fivefold.

Agibot overtook Unitree in H1 2026 humanoid robot shipments.

Over 60% of shipments still go to entertainment, education and research.

WRC 2026 showed a shift towards generalisation, reliability, deployment and ROI.

Galbot unveiled ET1, a compact humanoid capable of autonomous learning.

UBTECH, Galaxea, EngineAI, X Square Robot, RobotEra, Noetix, Spirit AI, Fourier and Kepler also showed their products.

Logistics and parcel sorting remain major commercial use cases.

JD.com announced RMB 10 billion in robotics investment by 2028.

Discover Robotics says generalisation is the real test for household robots.

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Unitree's Landmark IPO: Unitree Robotics is targeting an IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market with a valuation of 60.99 billion yuan, leading the physical AI sector despite facing commercialization and geopolitical challenges.AgiBot's Martial Arts Marketing: AgiBot is making waves by pairing its Expedition A3 robot with kung fu stars in a live-action fight series and launching a 1-million-yuan community contest for robot choreography.DOBOT Debuts LUMO: DOBOT unveiled LUMO, a 1.3-meter-tall all-scenario humanoid robot engineered to adapt as a companion, playmate, or tutor across diverse home settings.China's Sector Expansion & Pasini's Funding: China saw 116,000 new humanoid robotics enterprises established in the first half of the year, while tactile sensing startup Pasini raised over 1 billion yuan in its latest strategic funding round.

WAIC 2026 Kicks Off: Shanghai hosted the 2026 World AI Conference alongside a high-level meeting on global AI governance.Booster Robotics Upgrades: Booster Robotics launched its NVIDIA Thor-powered T2, continuing to dominate the robot soccer scene.RobbyAnt’s Pharmacy Tech: Backed by Ant Group, RobbyAnt demonstrated its LingBot model controlling three different robot brands in a pharmacy setting.AlphaBot 2 Showcases Versatility: AI Squared Robotics showed off the AlphaBot 2 performing industrial tasks as well as making cocktails and ice cream.AGIBOT Unveils PrimeBot T1: AGIBOT showcased interactive demos and introduced the PrimeBot T1, a consumer-grade humanoid-quadruped transformer for home and travel companionship.Unitree Releases New Model: Unitree introduced UnifoLM-OminiA-0.3, a single model designed for autonomous, multi-task home care and full-modal interaction.Galbot Launches WAM-TTT: Galbot announced WAM-TTT, the world's first test-time post-training framework built for embodied AI.China Establishes WAICO: China announced the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization signed by 29 nations, highlighting growing geopolitical messaging in AI governance.

China’s robot exports reached 10.38 million units worth RMB 20 billion in the first five months, with cleaning robots leading growth.Industry groups in China called for stricter ethical and safety rules for emotional companionship humanoid robots.UBTECH said the 2–4 hour battery life of full-size humanoid robots is currently an industry-wide limitation.Unitree Robotics said large-scale robot adoption still depends on better AI foundation models, cheaper hardware and mass production.Agibot and ASD signed a strategic partnership covering data collection, model training, robot applications and mass delivery.RobbyAnt released LingBot-VLA 2.0, trained on 60,000 hours of data and compatible with 20 robot models.Simplexity Robotics delivered 100 i7 Pro robots for CNC loading, unloading and quality inspection.RobotEra raised RMB 1 billion, bringing its total fundraising to RMB 2.5 billion in two months.

Galbot is likely to win a US$32.9 million procurement project in Yibin, covering 500 robotic units, while its S1 humanoid continues 24/7 operation on a CATL production line.AgiBot has deployed multiple G2 robots at Longcheer Technology’s Nanchang factory for a six-day live production-line trial and has also rolled out its 15,000th general-purpose embodied robot.UBTECH unveiled its Cruzr Y1 wheeled industrial humanoid robot at OPPO’s technology expo, demonstrating automatic unloading and stacking for factory logistics.KunlunXing Robotics, founded by former Huawei and Li Auto executives, has raised several billion yuan within three months of its launch.AI² Robotics has closed its latest funding round, raising nearly RMB 5 billion and lifting its valuation above RMB 20 billion.Moon Dynamics unveiled the L1, a heavy-duty dual wheeled-legged humanoid robot designed for industrial tasks such as palletising and material loading.Do you think JD.com founder Richard Liu’s idea of training delivery workers to become robot maintenance workers will work?

Galbot launched AstraBrain-WBC 0.5, a GPT-style foundation model for real-time, whole-body robot control.Galaxea unveiled its Kengo humanoid robot and threw shade at competitors, claiming to be China's only embodied AI firm with both a top-tier model and in-house flagship hardware.Kepler Robotics unveiled Kylin, a quadruped boasting a 600 kg payload capacity. SERES debuted its first humanoid robot, Xiaosai, inside its super factory

China launched its 2026 Humanoid Robot and Physical AI Initiative, aiming to identify 100+ robot jobs and deploy over 10,000 units in real-world scenarios.• The 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games will be held in Beijing from August 22 to 26, featuring 50 events, including fully autonomous track races and new table tennis and combat categories.• XPeng says its humanoid robot project remains on track for mass production by the end of 2026, with He Xiaopeng taking a more hands-on role.• EngineAI tested its full-size T800 robot for the upcoming URKL humanoid robot combat league.• UBTECH’s UWORLD humanoid robot received more than 3,000 pre-orders within eight days on JD.com.• Daimon Robotics and China Mobile are building a crowdsourced real-world data collection network for physical AI.• Digua Robotics’ S600 chip is gaining traction among humanoid robot companies.• SAGE unveiled MAHAKBOT, a six-arm robot designed for complex industrial tasks.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: China has 140+ humanoid robot makers and 330+ productsUnitree: 5,500+ humanoids shipped, 6,500 produced (humanoids only)Vbot: 6,540 pre-orders for robot dog Bobo, ~¥100m pre-salesZhejiang Humanoid Robot Innovation Center: ¥450m Pre-A, ¥2.2bn total in 18 monthsReal-world deployment: police patrol bots in Shanghai; Deep Robotics tested robots at –30°CLogistics: Robot Era partners with SF TechnologyBuyers: mainly education & government (187 of 292 buyers)Conclusion: institutional adoption, not mass consumer rollout yet

CES momentum, Agibot, X Square and Dobot

The final weekly update of China’s embodied AI sector. Personally, I think UBTECH’s Walker S2 is China’s Robot of the Year for 2025. I also expect robot-operated outlets—led by brands such as Galbot, Astribot and AI² Robotics—to scale rapidly in 2026.

Highlights include the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Unitree’s progress towards an IPO, Agibot’s rapid scale-up, and a surge of investment led by companies such as Galbot, XSense, Galaxea and TARS. UBTECH stood out with major data-centre robot contracts, while Xpeng drew attention with the debut of its humanoid robot IRON. Despite strong policy support and heavy funding, large-scale real-world deployment remains limited, with many robots still focused on data collection, research and demonstrations.

Rare candid views on AI’s limits, Shanghai’s push to build an embodied-AI hub, Unitree’s humanoid “App Store”, fresh funding across robots and core components, and, similar to Agibot, another startup acquired  listed company outside the sector. China’s humanoid update 12E3: rare candid views on AI’s limits, Shanghai’s push to build an embodied-AI hub, Unitree’s humanoid “App Store”, fresh funding across robots and core components, and, similar to Agibot, another startup acquired  listed company outside the sector. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWrcmIO49CU

This week in China’s embodied AI:• AGIBOT rolled out its 5,000th mass-produced humanoid.• Aimoga delivered its 1,000th robotic dog of 2025.• Atomrobot unveiled its upgraded ATOM01 with a practical Stewart-platform waist for industrial use.• UBTECH secured a 50-million-yuan sales deal, formed a joint venture with Beijing X-Humanoid, and launched its new consumer robot “Youzai”.• Chinese magazine Yaowen–Jiaozi listed “embodied intelligence” among 2025’s top 10 buzzwords.• Midea introduced its six-armed wheeled humanoid MIRO U, while major funding rounds were announced by Deep Robotics, Engine AI, Casiahand Robotics, and Lumos Robotics.• LiDAR maker RoboSense reported 150,000 units delivered in November and confirmed its sensors are now integrated into Engine AI’s T800 humanoid and PUDU’s D5 quadrupeds.

Engine AI T800 Launch; Agibot LinkSoul; PUDU D5; GSP entering the robotics sector; Daimon Robotics’ new funding; LimX Dynamics’ creative robot applications; and influencers and cross-border robot collaborations

Key highlights from this week’s update:💡 Is There an AI Bubble? Alibaba & Lenovo say no💰 Major Financing: Beijing’s startups dominate🏭 Real-World Deployment & Supply Chain Expansion📜 Policy Update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology appoints experts to the National Standardization Committee for Humanoid Robots🎓 Talent Pipeline: Seven universities apply to establish an Embodied Intelligence undergraduate major, with the industry talent gap estimated at one million

This week’s China embodied-intelligence update covers major moves in humanoid robotics — from headline-grabbing demos to surprising government-backed orders. Xpeng’s IRON stunned the public with an ultra-natural walking display, while  Wuhan opened China’s first “7S” humanoid robot store, offering sales, customisation, finance and full lifecycle services.

China Robots Now November Episode 1: DOBOT unveils its new Rover X1 quadruped priced around US$1,050; Leju’s Kuavo humanoid carries the torch at China’s 15th National Games;Agibot launches a Robot Leasing Ecosystem Alliance; UBTECH’s UQI debuts its automated logistics 2.0 system, and finally Galbot’s NavFoM foundation model makes a robotic dog smart.

In this episode:🤖 Mini humanoids go mainstream — Booster K1, NOETIX Bumi, and Lumos Luxiaoming lead the trend of small, agile robots.🏃 Agibot’s double breakthrough — partnership with Anta + launch of the zero-code robot creation platform Lingchuang.💰 Big funding rounds — Leju Robot’s RMB1.5 billion pre-IPO financing, FiveAges’ new embodied AI foundation model FAM-1, and more.🏭 Industrial applications — JD Logistics announces plans to deploy millions of robots, autonomous vehicles, and drones in the next five years.🎙️ Featured quote:“For humanoid robots to achieve widespread adoption, they must first reach a certain scale of shipments.” — Wang Xingxing, CEO of Unitree👉 Subscribe for weekly updates on China’s embodied intelligence, humanoid robotics, and AI ecosystem.#ChinaRobots #HumanoidRobots #Agibot #Unitree #JDLogistics #AI #EmbodiedIntelligence #RobotNews

This October, Episode 3 takes a look at new launches from Unitree and Booster, as well as recent progress made by UBTECH and Agibot.

Highlights this week:Agibot opens China’s first open embodied intelligence experience centre in Wuxi, where visitors can see humanoid robots and robotic dogs in action.At the 25th CIIF in Shanghai, companies showcased industrial humanoid applications:Fourier’s FOCUS system coordinating GRx robots.PsiBot + Siemens demoing a robot-run supermarket.Beatbot raises RMB1 billion from Meituan’s Dragonball Capital; its AquaSense 2 cleaner expands to 38 countries.EIR Technology unveils the Skywalker II humanoid robot (165cm, 55kg, 15kg payload, 5 km/h speed).Beijing opens China’s largest humanoid training ground, generating 6M+ data entries yearly.Cyan launches the world’s first Emotional Gait Foundation Model, with Orac robots simulating moods like happiness, anger, and confidence.UBTECH secures a RMB30M contract for its Walker S robots, to be delivered by year-end.Unitree to unveil a 1.8m humanoid later this year; its upgraded G1 now features “anti-gravity mode” for advanced stability.

This week’s highlights: Policy moves — China pushes humanoid adoption in auto, logistics, and power inspection, and launches 32 pilot projects for eldercare robots.Company news — Leju unveils Roban 2; UBTECH partners with Terminus on AIoT; Agibot earns China’s first CR certificate and launches the Genie Trailblazer Program.Funding — Hangzhou’s Differential Robotics raises nearly 200M yuan for UAVs in complex environments.Industry — Zoomlion showcases humanoids built on self-developed core components.Start-up watch — Beijing’s Phybot debuts flexible bipedal robots with new PhyArc actuators. Aviation — Two XPENG AEROHT flying cars collide during a rehearsal at the Changchun Air Show.

The strategy of AI² Robotics, Kepler and Engine AI to expand applications overthe next three years,

the hype of R1 robot by Ant Group’s Robbyant,

and the youngest startup XYZ Embodied AI raising 200 million yuan.  

Highlights include Pudu Robotics security breach, "Robot Wolf" at military parade, OneStar Robotics by billionaire’s son, Agibot expanding ecosystem, and X Square Robot , NOETIX and Ropet AI raising funds.

Let's look back at the World Humanoid Robot Games — and asks: how humanoid, how international were they really? Plus updates on new applications and financing in China’s embodied AI.

Shanghai unveiled a plan toboost the embodied intelligence industry, while the World Robot Conference inBeijing showcased more than 1,500 exhibits from over 200 companies. Robots viedto prove they can work, dance, and entertain.

In the past week, here are the highlights in China’s embodied AI sector, LimX Dynamics (逐际动力) recently opened pre-orders for its full-size humanoid robot LimX Oli, starting at around US$22,000. Unitree’s Vice General Manager, Wang Qizhou王启舟, pointed out the widespread adoption of humanoid robots still faces significant challenges. Founder and CEO, Wang Xingxing, and Agibot co-founder and CTO Peng Zhihui, were among 100 private-sector entrepreneurs recognised as “Outstanding Builders of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”. Wang Chuang, President of AgiBot's General Business Line (Yuanzheng A2), said in an interview with NewNewthing under Yicai Magazine that around 80% of humanoid robot companies are likely to fail during this go-to-market phase. JD.com, the e-commerce giant in China, made four investment into embodied AI in July alone. Beijing-based Galaxea Ai, 星海图, joined pilotscale embodied intelligence hub in Hangzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone. Tencent’s Robotics X Lab, along with Futian laboratory, released Tairos钛螺丝 platform to accelerate the development of embodied intelligence.

Tairos is designed to enhance the critical software capabilities needed by both robot hardware manufacturers and application developers. Built around two pillars —large AI models and cloud services. The AI models include complex task planning, Multimodalperception, and perception-actionintegration. The cloud services supportthe entire development lifecycle, allowing developers to conduct simulation,training, and data management online. Zhang highlighted five principles ofTairos: openness, empowerment, application, connection and responsibility.

This episode shows thehighlights in the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference(WAIC). Itincludes X-Humanoid北京人创, Agibot智元，UniTree 宇树，Fourier傅立叶，KEENON擎朗 and more

1. Agibot receives strategicinvestment from CP Group;

2.Unitree plans IPO filing this year;

3. UBTECHshowcases autonomous battery replacement;

4, Hubei unveils humanoid robot;

5. JD.com ramps up investment in humanoid start-ups ;

6. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang visits Beijing

Highlights:DOBOT Six-legged robotic dogAgibot livestream and buys listed company, denying it an approach to go public.Robot art show in ShanghaiA new robot dog named Gangbeng—literally meaning “small change” in Chinese—symbolises durability, strength, and flexibility in this context. Agibot and UniTree won 124 million yuan contractUniTree CEO confident of private economy in press conference by the State Council information office

The World Humanoid Robot Games (WHRG) will open in August in Beijing. It will be the world's first multi-sport competition specially for humanoid robots. There are 19 primary events across three categories plus three side events. Agibot 智元 has released a new video about its Lingxi X2-n. The robot can seamlessly switch between wheeled to bipedal modes. It can walk and slide, adapt to various terrains, all while demonstrating impressive balance and performance. MagicLab魔法原子 has unveiled its new bipedal humanoid robot, MagicBot Z1. It features a high-performance, reliable body, an open AI ecosystem, and broad application potential. DeepRobotics, 云深处completed a new round of 500 million yuan, with investors including Beijing Robotics Industry Development Investment,RobotEra also raised 500 million yuan from investors led by CDH Investments and Haier Capital.Robot dog Panther reached a speed of 10.3 metres per second, surpassing the previous record of at 8.89 metres per second previously set by Boston Dynamics’ WildCat.

Lens Technology 蓝思 and Tao Motor increase investment, UniTree 宇树CEO Wang Xingxing highlights safety concerns, talent shifts in Tencent’s Robotics X, 机器人足球3V3 Robo League and more

Flexiv Secures Multi-Million Dollar Series C FundingHuawei showcases CloudRoboTop story: Galbot Breaks Funding RecordChina Mobile’s Smart Dog for Emergency Response

I explore the emerging world of robot musicians in China. From piano-playing robots at Zhejiang University to a full “robot band” by Panshi Technology, I’ll show you what these impressive machines are currently capable of. You’ll see their dexterous hands, complex mechanics, and how they attempt to mimic human musicians.But are these robots truly intelligent artists—or just sophisticated automatons?

Lumos Robotics Debuts LUS 2 Humanoid Robot, 

 Beijing to Launch the First 4S Store for Robots,

BeingBeyond secures funding,

Spherical police robot spotted again,

robotic hand and challenges in humanoid   

Keli Sensing invests in tactile sensor startup Ensuring Technology

SwitchBot to go public in Hong Kong

AI Squared and DFLZM agrees to enhance application

Dobot expands application in pharmacies through partnership with Yaoshibang

Booster Robotics raised fund

This summarises the new developments of China's leading embodied AI companies, including humanoid robots, in the last week in May 2025. It includes product upgrades, financing news, and applications.

Agibot Promotes Lingxi X2, priced $13,800-$55,000

Brain drain at 01 AI (零一万物)

Cargo train robotic inspection in China

Engine AI’s  Robot Boxing Plan

LimX Dynamics

AgileX Robotics

And some AI care companion robot toys

Another robot story from Tsinghua graduates

Tianjin’s first humanoid robot 

Investment: Oymotion，MagicLab  and VITA Dynamics

China Unicom’s Robot isn’t a robot

Unix AI’s Wanda 2.0 now sells for 88,000 yuan

Bonus story: Seahi-ocean robots

The companies I talked about in this episode includes: Galbot, Chery AiMOGA, Leju’s Kuavo, Xsense Robotics, Midea, X Square, Inspire, NOETIX, Spirit AI, UBTECH, Huawei Tencent, Dobot, FOURIER, Lenovo and UniTree 

Tencent Demonstrates Robotic Dogs with Human-Like UnderstandingOpinion: AI Helps Carbon-Based Life Transcend Its BoundariesPsiBot Tackles VLA Limitations with Layered ArchitectureLightwheel Identifies Synthetic Data as Key to Embodied AIDeep RoboticsTeleAI

UBTECH humanoid robot secures automaker deal. Kepler tests K2 "Bumblebee" in SAIC GM plant, SAIC Motor invests in planetary roller screw-maker, and Xpeng showcases humanoid robot Iron.

in April 2025, the crisis-hit Dataa Robotics, with a market value of 20 billion RMB, and a Hong Kong company established a new JV to focus on humanoid robots,

This introduces the world's first humanoid robot half-marathon race held in Beijing's E-town, with many big names absent and a local team from X-humanoid wining the race with 2 hours 40 minutes and 24 seconds, after three battery swaps.