China’s humanoid robot boom: All hype, little practicality?
Over 150 humanoid robot companies are now operating in China, yet questions remain about whether these machines can truly deliver industrial value. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Yush Chau looks at challenges and prospects for the industry.
The number of Chinese humanoid robot companies has surpassed 150, but the technology roadmap, commercialisation models and application scenarios remain underdeveloped, raising concerns of an industry bubble. Officials say they will prioritise preventing risks such as a glut of homogenous products and a shrinking space for research and development.
Official support to drive growth
Experts noted that while a short-term bubble is inevitable, market forces will ultimately weed out weaker players, leaving only companies with genuine research and development (R&D) strength. To unlock market demand, firms must also correct course and address deviations in their technological roadmaps.
In 2023, the Chinese government released the “Humanoid Robotics Innovation Development Guidelines”, setting clear, phase-by-phase development goals for the industry...
During a routine press conference on 27 November, when asked about a potential humanoid robot bubble, Li Chao, deputy director of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)’s policy research office, pointed out that “speed” and “bubbles” have always been factors that must be carefully balanced in the development of frontier industries.
Li said that in recent years, driven by both innovation and growing market demand, the embodied intelligence industry, largely represented by humanoid robots, has seen explosive growth at a rate of over 50%. Yet humanoid robots remain immature in their technology roadmaps, commercialisation models and application scenarios. As new capital continues to pour in, China now has over 150 humanoid robot companies — and this figure is still climbing — with more than half being startups or “cross-industry” entrants.
She stated candidly, “It’s good for stimulating innovation, but we also need to guard against repetitive products flooding the market and squeezing out room for real R&D.”
When the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party released the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) in late October, it identified embodied intelligence as a new engine of economic growth. Li said the NDRC has been working with relevant departments on in-depth research and will now move to align the plan’s key initiatives — strengthening entry and exit mechanisms for the sector and accelerating the rollout of embodied intelligent systems in real-world applications — to ensure healthy, well-regulated industry development.
Survival of the fittest
In 2023, the Chinese government released the “Humanoid Robotics Innovation Development Guidelines”, setting clear, phase-by-phase development goals for the industry: by 2025, products should reach advanced international standards and achieve mass production; and by 2027, there should be significant improvements in humanoid robot technological innovation capabilities, forming a safe and reliable industrial and supply chain system.
“... once a policy is announced, companies rush to align with its goals, spurring greater investment in the humanoid robot industry.” — Shen Meng, Executive Director, Chanson & Co
In addition to robotics companies such as Hangzhou’s Unitree Robotics and Shenzhen’s UBTECH, electric vehicle companies have also ventured into the humanoid robot sector. Among them, XPeng Motors spent five years developing its next-generation humanoid robot, IRON, which it unveiled in early November, drawing public attention for its humanoid appearance and “catwalk” demonstration.
Shen Meng, executive director of Chanson & Co, told Lianhe Zaobao that a key feature of industrial development in China is that “once a policy is announced, companies rush to align with its goals, spurring greater investment in the humanoid robot industry”.
He noted that although the industry is experiencing a bubble, it will ultimately be a “survival of the fittest”, leaving only companies with real R&D strength.
No practical use
Chinese economist Pan Helin said concerns about a bubble in the humanoid robot industry stem from deviations in its technological roadmap. While the sector focuses on generality — designing robots to perform multiple tasks in human-oriented environments — what industrial manufacturing actually requires is high-precision capability. Current R&D, largely based on imitation learning, does not align with this practical demand.
Pan argued that the industry should prioritise breakthroughs in high-precision, high-performance robotics before pushing humanoid robot R&D. Otherwise, “at the current stage, humanoid robots have no chance against industrial robots in the manufacturing field.” With multiple technical bottlenecks, limited generality, and few ideal application scenarios, mass production of Chinese humanoid robots remains out of reach for most companies.
Essentially, both companies have potential, but each faces limitations that restrict how effectively their robots can be used in industrial or manufacturing settings.
Regarding company prospects, Pan said XPeng’s humanoid robots occupy a niche market, primarily as bionic robots. Their core strengths lie in exterior design and delivering emotional value, rather than production efficiency or advanced motion capabilities.
Meanwhile, Unitree Robotics is better positioned as an experimental robot platform, while UBTECH could face challenges in deeper integration with manufacturing, particularly due to the need for advances in robot precision and dexterous dual-hand coordination. Essentially, both companies have potential, but each faces limitations that restrict how effectively their robots can be used in industrial or manufacturing settings.
This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as “中国人形机器人企业逾150家 商业模式应用场景未成熟引泡沫担忧”.
