Humanoid Daily #5: BYD just made its biggest move yet into humanoid robotics, Atlas, Mitsubishi, and $71 million
BYD teases its first humanoid robot
Mitsibishi partners with Highlanders to mass-produce AI humanoids
EngineAI expands humanoid production with a second manufacturing facility
Enigma raises $71 million to reinvent human-robot interaction
BYD enters the humanoid race
China's EV giant BYD is officially entering the humanoid robot race.
The company has released a teaser confirming that its first humanoid robot will make its public debut in early August.
Of course the robot itself remains under wraps. But BYD has already outlined its vision. Executive Vice President Li Ke says the company hopes to deploy two or three humanoid robots in every dealership, where they could greet customers, explain vehicle features, and assist with product demonstrations.
Li believes robotic sales assistants could become commercially viable within the next one to two years, with home and service robots representing an even larger long-term opportunity.
It's another sign that the line between the automotive and robotics industries is rapidly disappearing. Companies that already manufacture electric motors, batteries, power electronics, and AI systems increasingly see humanoid robots as a natural next step.
Atlas gets production-ready hardware
Speaking of automakers building humanoids, Hyundai Motor Group is moving another step closer to commercializing Atlas.
Hyundai Mobis says it will begin delivering body actuator components to Boston Dynamics around November. Actuators are the components that power a robot's movement and account for roughly 50-60 percent of the material cost of a humanoid robot.
The prototypes will help accelerate development ahead of Hyundai's goal of commercializing Atlas in 2028.
In addition, Hyundai Mobis says it's also discussing supplying robot hands, sensors, controllers, and battery packs …
Hyundai's broader strategy is becoming increasingly clear. Boston Dynamics develops the robots, while Hyundai's manufacturing companies build the industrial supply chain needed to produce them at scale.
The group plans a North American robot factory capable of producing 30,000 humanoids annually, while Hyundai Mobis is preparing a U.S. actuator plant capable of producing 350,000 actuators per year.
Mitsubishi targets robot scale
Japan is making its own push into embodied AI.
Mitsubishi Motors has partnered with Tokyo startup Highlanders with the goal of producing 1,000 AI humanoid robots every month by the end of 2027.
The first robots will be deployed inside Mitsubishi's Kyoto engine plant, where they'll assist on production lines while generating the operational data needed to improve future models.
Highlanders CEO Hiroya Masuoka says Japan currently lacks a domestic company capable of competing with global embodied AI leaders. The partnership aims to combine Mitsubishi's manufacturing expertise with Highlanders' robotics technology to help close that gap.
Like many recent announcements, the initial focus isn't home robots—it's solving labor shortages in manufacturing.
EngineAI expands manufacturing
China's EngineAI has reached another manufacturing milestone.
The company's first batch of T800 humanoid robots has rolled off the production line at its new Zhengzhou factory.
The new facility joins EngineAI's Shenzhen manufacturing site as the company ramps production for customers across China, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
EngineAI says the factory integrates everything from component inspection and assembly to testing, shipping, and maintenance, giving it tighter control over quality as production volumes increase.
The company also opened a public demonstration center showcasing humanoid robots working across transportation, retail, education, household tasks, and data collection—highlighting the growing range of applications developers are targeting.
Number of the day: $71 million
One of the biggest robotics funding rounds of the year goes to a company taking a very different approach.
Startup Enigma has emerged from stealth with a $71 million seed round** led by Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital.
Instead of focusing on making robots more capable, Enigma wants to make them easier to control.
The company has built more than 100 robots that anyone can operate remotely over the internet. Users can paint, perform simple lab experiments, or even have robots duel with swords, while Enigma collects data on how people naturally interact with machines.
The founders believe today's biggest challenge isn't just robot intelligence … it's the interface. Their goal is to make robotic interaction so intuitive that controlling a robot becomes second nature.
If they're right, making robots easier to use could prove just as important as making them smarter.
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Written by
I tell stories with data and build startups. I've raised angel and VC funds, led software companies and startups, and chronicled the rise of the mobile economy. Currently I write for Forbes, host several podcasts, and am starting up HumanoidMegaHub. I was TUNE's mobile economist and Singular's VP of Insights, built the research team at VentureBeat, and managed teams creating software for partners like Intel and Disney. In past lives I built websites, e-learning platforms, and mobile apps, and, a long time ago, was named to Folio's top 100 of the media industry's "most innovative entrepreneurs and market shaker-uppers.”