Humanoid robots are moving from laboratory prototypes to early commercial deployments, with global shipments expected to reach about 60,000 units this year, according to speakers at a Shanghai conference organized by Gasgoo Embodied Intelligence. Of that total, roughly 50,000 units will ship in China, said Wang Xianbin, a partner and vice president of research at Gasgoo, citing industry surveys from events such as the World AI Conference and the World Robot Conference.
Speaking at the 2026 Embodied Perception Fusion and Multimodal Large Model Innovation Symposium on September 15, Wang said the industry remains in a transition phase from R&D validation to industrial rollout. Most current applications in China are in entertainment, performance and scientific research, while deployments in 3C electronics, automotive and logistics have risen to 15-20 percent of total use. Some products are being tested in tasks such as operating in 4S dealerships, household grasping and pharmacy sorting, but large-scale batch delivery is still some way off, he added.
Supply chain overlaps with autos
Wang highlighted the close overlap between humanoid robot and automotive supply chains, noting that actuator systems account for nearly half of a robot's cost. As scale grows, core components still have significant room for cost reduction. He predicted that humanoid robots will gradually expand from structured, relatively simple scenarios to unstructured ones, but small-scale pilots will dominate for some time.
The conference, hosted by Gasgoo Embodied Intelligence, a unit of automotive industry services firm Gasgoo, brought together experts from large-model, robotics, chip and sensor companies. CEO Gu Xiaoying said the industry needs to tackle challenges in multimodal perception stability, task generalization speed, cost control and safe coexistence with humans in the physical world. Gasgoo has built an embodied intelligence industry database covering more than 2,000 robotics companies and plans to expand it to over 10,000 by the end of this year, she said.
Companies showcase progress
Several companies presented their latest developments. Unitree, represented by Xie Yipeng, its head of industrial scenario solutions, said it is building an AI-assisted closed-loop iteration system to accelerate physical AI, focusing on full-stack self-developed humanoid and quadruped robots. Jijia Technology, founded in 2023, is developing a general world model that combines world generation and world action to enable robots to operate in homes and factories; its latest product was released in August.
Guangxiang Lab introduced its physics-native intelligence system, which integrates explicit physical knowledge with neural networks, and has validated its technology in autonomous driving, humanoid robots and industrial robots, including a full-size humanoid that can play continuous table tennis. Zhongqing Robotics showcased its 173-centimeter T800 humanoid and 135-centimeter PM01, which are already working at Luxshare Precision's Suzhou factory, handling material transport and loading tasks, and in JD.com stores for guidance and shopping assistance.
Folai New Material discussed tactile sensing, emphasizing that vision alone is insufficient for fine manipulation tasks such as grip adjustment and slip detection. The company has developed tactile gloves and dexterous hand adapters to improve data collection for embodied intelligence training. Mojia Robot, founded in January 2025, presented its product lineup, including a humanoid deployed at Chery's overseas 4S stores, a traffic police robot already in use at intersections in the Yangtze River Delta, and a medical guide robot for hospitals.
