Aishida has moved into humanoid robots this year, signing a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with Zhiyuan Innovation in July. Zhiyuan will open its quadruped robot supply chain support channel to Aishida and provide its embodied intelligence technology system; Zhiyuan's Lingxi X2 has already appeared in some of Aishida's offline stores for a three-day livestream shopping-guide run.
The article notes that embodied AI financing cooled in October 2026, with 19 funding rounds totaling 4.934 billion yuan as of October 15, while monthly financing from July to September each exceeded 70 rounds, with August reaching 91 rounds and 31.323 billion yuan. Founders are anxious due to postponed IPOs, unresolved technology roadmaps, and slow commercialization.
Xinjiang's first robot 9S center, invested in and built by Xinjiang Future Era Technology Co., Ltd., has gathered more than 60 robots across 25 categories, including humanoid robots, biomimetic robots, quadruped consumer robot dogs, and inspection robot dogs, and is carrying out scenario applications in fields such as cultural tourism, agriculture, industry, mining, and commercial delivery.
A collaboration case between Agibot and Ant Afu has been deployed at Peking University People's Hospital, where the half-size humanoid robot Lingxi X2 serves at a patient guidance desk, providing on-site inquiries for patients. Lingxi X2 connects to the AI medical assistant in the Ant Afu app, is based on Ant's medical large model, and is linked to the hospital's private knowledge base; it can provide services such as department guidance, consultation on medical visit procedures, answers to medical insurance policy questions, and in-hospital location navigation. According to the hospital's operational data, as of September 30, Lingxi X2 had worked 66 working days at the outpatient navigation desk, completing a cumulative 46,686 interactions, averaging about 707 per day, with a single-day maximum of 1,420 interactions.
WorldOracle officially opened submissions to developers on October 16. It is an evaluation platform that uses real execution records as a reference to test the prediction capabilities of action-driven world models. The paper is titled "WorldOracle."
In the third quarter of 2026, Yunqi welcomed 10 new partners, and 15 portfolio companies completed new funding rounds, covering areas such as embodied intelligence, nuclear fusion, quantum computing, and brain-computer interfaces. In embodied intelligence, Pokebot received an additional USD 100 million-scale Pre-A round, Stardust Intelligence completed a new RMB 1 billion funding round, its new-generation humanoid robot T1 has begun shipping with pricing entering the RMB 90,000 range, and Zhigu Tianchu's cooking robots have achieved revenue exceeding RMB 100 million and continued profitability. In addition, Nuova Fusion completed a RMB 1.2 billion Pre-A series of funding, and Manycore Tech and MiniMax successively disclosed post-listing performance.
AlphaBot 2, the general-purpose intelligent robot from AI² Robotics, has entered Hong Kong's first Embodied AI International Application Training Ground, joining Unitree Robotics, AgiBot Innovation and others as one of the first seven technology partners to take part in training, validation and optimization of embodied intelligence technologies in real-world scenarios. The training ground was established by the Hong Kong Industrial Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Centre (FLAIR) under the Hong Kong Productivity Council and officially opened on October 15. The AlphaBot robot had previously been deployed at a bar in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong, providing cocktail-making and interactive services.
AgiBot Lingxi X2 has been integrated with the AI medical assistant in the Ant Afu app and serves as a patient guidance robot at the outpatient navigation desk of Peking University People's Hospital, providing department directions, consultation on the medical visit process, answers on medical insurance policies, and in-hospital location navigation, while delivering standardized medical responses based on the hospital's private knowledge base. As of September 30, it had worked 66 working days and completed 46,686 interactions, averaging 707 per day, with a single-day peak of 1,420 receptions. AgiBot said it will gradually expand deployment and build a replicable model for smart hospital services.
Mao Weimin, former CDO of Zhijing Robotics, has joined AgiBot's Genie business unit, taking over delivery and deployment operations. The unit is led by Yao Maoqing, and the Genie series robots have already seen over 10,000 units roll off the production line and enter production-line operations. The author analyzes that large-scale delivery experience from the autonomous driving industry is migrating to embodied intelligence, and that industry competition is shifting from prototype validation to a contest of engineering implementation and delivery capability.
Qiyuan Robotics, under Swancor Advanced Materials, delivered its Q1 and T1 personal robots in order sequence on October 1, with pricing starting at 19,999 yuan and the first batch going to authorized experience stores in seven cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. CEO Tian Hua said the hardware itself is not profitable and that long-term commercial space lies in content subscriptions and IP applications; the article notes that Swancor Advanced Materials posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of 167 million yuan in the first half of the year, while robot advance payments rose from 4 million yuan to 210 million yuan, and that delivery fulfillment rates and activation and usage data warrant attention going forward.
AgiBot's "Yuan Sheng Ecosystem Development Plan" is partnering with more than 20 universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University, to build an industry-education integration innovation practice platform for embodied intelligence. It will deploy over 1,000 units across its full lineup of robot bodies, including Jingling, Lingxi, Expedition, and Kutu quadruped models, with robot bodies and software membership benefits totaling 200 million yuan.
Securities Times reports that some embodied AI startups founded two or three years ago and not yet profitable are sitting on billions of yuan in financing, raising funds while also investing externally. Recently, Juxie Intelligence and Moxian Technology simultaneously announced the completion of financing, and a hundred-billion-yuan embodied AI unicorn appeared among the investors in both. This phenomenon is concentrated in fields such as embodied AI, large models, and AI chips, and is especially pronounced in the robotics track. Since the start of this year, more than ten companies including AgiBot, Songyan Power, and Galbot have successively entered the investment arena.
IDC's "Worldwide Quadruped Robot Market Shares, 1H26" shows that in the first half of 2026, the global quadruped robot market exceeded $400 million, up 95.4% year over year, with shipments exceeding 49,000 units. Education and research and home consumer use contributed about 60% of shipments but accounted for less than one-third of revenue.
Daily rental prices for humanoid robots have fallen from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan down to a few hundred yuan. Around the 2026 National Day holiday, nearly 30 companies will deploy thousands of devices in cultural tourism, retail, and other scenarios. The article compares deployment scale, depth of functions, and pricing logic between 2025 and 2026, citing cases such as AgiBot Lingxi X2 generating about 2.23 million yuan in cumulative sales over 3 days across a hundred stores, and robots at Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei averaging more than 400 pickups per day. It also notes that normalized operations and profitability after the Golden Week holiday remain unresolved challenges.
On October 14, Jia Yueting posted a video announcing plans to create the first humanoid robot stock on the U.S. market. FFR (formerly AIxC, with Faraday Future as controlling shareholder) signed a definitive agreement with FFAI to merge FFAI's robotics assets in an all-stock deal at $2.246 per share, a 55% premium to the prior day, valuing the assets at about $200 million. After the deal closes, FFAI will hold about 65.7% of FFR, and the only cash coming in is a $10 million PIPE.
A commentary article says Unitree's share price has fallen from 1,100 yuan at the open on its first trading day to 405 yuan, shrinking its market value to 163.8 billion yuan, a loss of 281.1 billion yuan over two months. First-half 2026 revenue was 1.152 billion yuan, up 48.54% year on year, while non-recurring net profit fell 19.34% year on year; IDC data show global humanoid robot shipments of nearly 25,000 units in the first half, with China accounting for about 77.9%, Unitree shipping more than 5,000 units to rank second and Agibot ranking first.
In 2026, humanoid robots entered the sales stage aimed at individual consumers. In the first half of 2026, global shipments were about 19,100 units, nearly 3 times the year-on-year figure, with Chinese manufacturers accounting for more than 97% of the share. Unitree's R1 starts at 29,900 yuan, and Songyan Power's Xiaobumi is priced at 9,998 yuan, but low-priced models generally cut dexterous hands, force-control modules, and perception hardware, with a single-arm payload of only 1.5 to 2.5 kg. Buyers mostly use them for entertainment, programming and debugging, and shooting videos, while manufacturers use low prices to capture users and data ecosystem positions.
The article analyzes how financing in the robotics industry is shifting from complete robots to capability layers such as embodied brains, motion control, dexterous hands, and data: in the first half of 2026, financing for core humanoid robot components exceeded 21 billion yuan, up 192% year on year, while financing for complete-robot companies was about 5.6 billion yuan in the same period. It cites financing cases including Moushen Intelligence, Deta Intelligence, and Yaole Technology, as well as deployment data from AgiBot and Figure, and points to three major constraints: insufficient data, shallow scenarios, and unclear technology roadmaps.
Unitree Technology released its STAR Market issuance announcement on August 6, 2026, with an issue price of 150.80 yuan per share and 40.4464 million shares issued, a listing market value of approximately 60.993 billion yuan, and an oversubscription of approximately 1.7 billion yuan; the strategic placement list includes DeepSeek and four state-owned capital firms.
Shanghai Yuansheng Wotu Technology Co., Ltd. was recently established, with Deng Taihua as legal representative and registered capital of 10 million RMB. It is wholly owned by AgiBot's affiliate AgiBot Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. Its business scope covers technical services, technical development, technical consulting, technical exchange, technical transfer, and technical promotion, among others.
Shanghai Yuansheng Wotu Technology Co., Ltd. has been established as a wholly owned subsidiary of AgiBot Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., an affiliate of AgiBot. It is the sixth subsidiary after Mifeng, Critical Point, Qingtian Zu, Kutuo, and Zhiding. The company has registered capital of 10 million RMB, and its legal representative is Deng Taihua. Its business scope includes technical services, technical development, technical consulting, technical exchange, technical transfer, and technical promotion.
The article analyzes the wave of falling humanoid robot prices: Goldman Sachs forecasts the average unit price will drop from about $41,800 in 2025 to about $21,300 in 2035; Unitree Technology's unit price fell from 593,400 yuan to 166,400 yuan in two years; Songyan Power's products have entered the sub-10,000-yuan range.
Agibot Innovation has launched a new funding round of RMB 1–1.5 billion, nearing completion, at a latest valuation of RMB 50 billion. Because a pre-listing financing after filing must be held for 120 days before listing, its plan to ring the bell in Hong Kong this year, launched in July, is essentially dashed. The article's analysis says that after listing, Unitree and Mech-Mind saw notable share-price pullbacks, and regulatory window guidance has raised the listing threshold for humanoid robot companies; Agibot chose to delay listing via financing in exchange for a more certain valuation anchor.
According to a Caijing report on October 13, Agibot has launched a new funding round with a post-money valuation of about 50 billion yuan, and the 1–1.5 billion yuan raise is nearing completion. Under the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's 120-day rule, a listing would be postponed after the funding closes, so the Hong Kong IPO plan for this year has fallen through, with the earliest target possibly slipping to 2027.
According to investor sources, embodied intelligence company Agibot Innovation recently launched a new funding round of about 1 billion to 1.5 billion yuan, which is nearing completion, at a latest valuation of about 50 billion yuan. Because Hong Kong Stock Exchange rules require a company that completes new financing after filing and before listing to wait 120 days before it can begin trading, Agibot cannot complete its IPO this year. A relevant Agibot representative said there is no response for now.
The article analyzes the commercialization progress of robot retail: this National Day, more than 30 embodied intelligence companies entered cultural tourism and retail scenarios; Galbot's space capsules cover about 50 cities and about 200 locations; Crossdim Intelligence's more than 30 small stations received over 110,000 visits during the holiday; SenseTime Shanhui's Shaomaigou stores require only 0.2 to 0.3 staff per store. It also points out real challenges such as Hongqi Chain halting its robot vending project, grasping failure rates, and the lack of after-sales systems, and cites data projecting the global retail robot market to grow from $6.84 billion in 2025 to $23.07 billion in 2034.
AGIBOT opened a Hong Kong office at Times Square in Causeway Bay on October 9 to expand its local business and partnerships. The company plans a phased rollout, including establishing an international R&D headquarters, building joint laboratories with local universities, and investing tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars to support research collaboration; starting that day, it will hold campus recruitment presentations at universities including the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The office will also explore practical robotics applications in service scenarios such as retail and hospitality.
On October 2, the first Vietnam Embodied Intelligence Conference (AGIBOT Partner Conference) was held in Hanoi, co-hosted by NIC, AGIBOT, and local partners ECOLIV and Great Education, with more than 550 attendees.
Frost & Sullivan released the 2026 Global Humanoid Robot Market Research Report: global humanoid robot sales reached 35,000 units and revenue reached USD 500 million in 2025; in the first half of 2026, sales reached 36,000 units and revenue reached USD 540 million, with half-year revenue exceeding full-year 2025 revenue.
Citing IDC data, AGIBOT said global humanoid robot shipments in H1 2026 approached 25,000 units, up 432.1% year on year. AGIBOT shipped more than 8,600 units, about 35% of the total, ranking first globally. The company's cumulative output reached 20,000 units by September, and it deployed more than 300 robots at Chimelong Spaceship in Hengqin in partnership with Chimelong, while another 100 AGIBOT X2 robots entered Gujia (SZSE: 002403) stores. IDC expects global shipments to exceed 750,000 units by 2030.
Why it matters: The original text provides IDC's H1 shipment data and AGIBOT's actual deployment scenarios, which help readers understand the latest landscape of humanoid robot commercialization.
AGIBOT has partnered with ASD (SZSE: 002403) to deploy 100 AGIBOT X2 humanoid robots in 100 retail stores in China, where they serve as customer-facing store sales assistants.
Why it matters: The original article provides details such as the deployment scale, the division of in-store tasks, and livestream duration, which let readers understand how humanoid robots are actually being integrated into retail service workflows.
On September 24, AgiBot's 20,000th embodied intelligent robot, the Expedition A3 Ultra, rolled off the production line and was delivered to Chimelong Group. In the first phase, over 300 AgiBot robots will be introduced at Hengqin Chimelong Spaceship Park, deployed across more than 100 interactive experience points and covering seven major scenarios including entertainment performances, guided tours, retail, and hotels. The collaboration also includes the implementation of a 5G-A embodied intelligence innovation application, a one-stop operations and maintenance management platform, and a security solution covering six major dimensions. The Expedition series offers up to 10 hours of battery life, and the robots support 360-degree omnidirectional perception and compliant control. The overall deployment scale is expected to reach several thousand units.
Why it matters: The report documents the specific operational support for the large-scale, routine deployment of robots at the park, helping readers understand the real-world requirements of deployment.
AgiBot and Chimelong Group launched their first large-scale embodied intelligence deployment at Chimelong Universe Park, with over 300 robots connected across seven scenarios: entertainment, science education, guided tours, retail, AI companionship, hotel services, and sports competition. The deployment includes a dedicated 5G-A network supported by China Telecom and China Mobile, multi-robot coordination, and safety operations support. The 20,000th robot to roll off the AgiBot production line was also delivered, and the two parties announced a joint institute for embodied intelligence in cultural tourism.
Why it matters: The deployment covers seven scenarios and operational details such as the 5G-A network, offering insight into how embodied intelligence is deployed at scale in commercial cultural tourism environments.
At the Greater Bay Area Film Concert, AGIBOT used the WITA-Omni omni-modal embodied model to achieve real-machine human-robot interaction; the robot can identify its conversation partner, judge the right timing to respond, and coordinate speech, motion, and facial expressions in real time. The model uses a Thinker-Talker-Actor architecture, and WITA-Omni Preview ranked first on the DailyOmni benchmark with an average accuracy of 85.21%, leading in six of eight evaluation dimensions.
AgiBot has released AGILE 2.0, a second-generation perception-driven locomotion and whole-body control framework that brings visual perception into the motion control loop and introduces a unified whole-body motion representation, supporting manipulation while moving, real-time replanning, and cross-robot coordination. In the demo video Acrobat BOT, the AGIBOT X2 completes tasks such as ball balancing, three-robot jump rope, and collaborative carrying; the framework also supports risk perception and autonomous recovery from disturbances in human-robot shared environments.
At the 2026 WAIC Embodied AI Forum, six guests predicted that robots' ChatGPT moment is two to five years away, with Yao Maoqing saying two years and Xu Danfei saying five, though no consensus has formed on the criteria for judging it. The discussion focused on three main threads: the data flywheel must be built through real deployments rather than data collection alone; VLA and World Action Models (WAM) are not opposites, with PI continuing the VLA path through π0.7 while Dyna turns to WAM; full-stack capability is becoming a trend, but a full-stack business model is not necessarily the only answer.
This article is an interview with Dr. Jianlan Luo about his new work LWD (Learning While Deploying), which enables general-purpose robot policies to continuously perform online reinforcement learning from their own experience during real-world deployment. LWD combines offline RL pretraining with online RL fine-tuning to unify offline and online optimization objectives; the value function is trained separately with a VLM and uses both positive and negative samples (roughly over 60% positive and over 30% negative), and deployment data flows back into the training pipeline in about 40 seconds on average.
At the Physical AI Frontier Exploration and Industrial Innovation Symposium hosted by Tsinghua University's Department of Electronic Engineering and others on March 28, Wang Yu moderated a roundtable forum where five alumni—Chen Yilun, Yao Maoqing, Wang Qian, Ding Wenbo, and Li Ziyi—discussed the technical bottlenecks and deployment of embodied intelligence.