Humanoid robot shipments up 300% in first half of 2026, and there's another IPO coming
Humanoid robot shipments just tripled. The counting did not get easier.
Humanoid robot shipments are exploding in 2026. We know that much. Exactly how many more robots are shipping, however, is a mystery.
Counterpoint Research says more than 22,000 humanoid robots shipped globally in the first half of the year, up nearly 300%. Smart Analytics Global looked at the same six months and counted 19,100. And a Chinese industry alliance says Chinese companies alone shipped more than 30,000.
That is a roughly 60% gap from the lowest estimate to the highest.
The good news is that under the vastly different data, there's actually a surprising amount of consensus.
Both Counterpoint and Smart Analytics Global say the market has roughly quadrupled in a year. Both rank AGIBOT number one and Unitree number two. And both say those two companies control about three-quarters of the market.
Counterpoint's numbers:
Counterpoint puts AGIBOT at about 9,700 shipments and more than 43% market share, with Unitree above 7,000 and 31%. SAG counts fewer robots — 8,400 for AGIBOT and 5,900 for Unitree — but gives them almost exactly the same shares: 44% and 31%.
So the market structure looks pretty clear.
The Chinese Humanoid Robot Scene Application Alliance says the industry shipped 30,000 humanoids just inside China so far in 2026, breaking that number into more than 18,000 bipedal humanoids and more than 12,000 wheeled humanoids.
So ... who really knows? Basically, we know it's up and to the right.
Counterpoint says entertainment and performance plus data production and research still account for more than 60% of shipments. Manufacturing is just 13%, and logistics another 5%. Meanwhile, SAG says industrial and commercial applications account for more than 70%, which sounds pretty different.
The likely explanation is that "commercial" is swallowing a lot of categories that Counterpoint breaks out separately.
But this matters ... a robot doing backflips at an expo is very different economically from a robot doing repetitive production work on a factory line. And now that Unitree is publicly traded after a spectacular Shanghai debut this week, these definitions aren't just analyst trivia anymore.
There's real money at stake now.
Galaxy General debuts Galbot ET1, calling it the first self-learning humanoid
Galaxy General used the opening day of the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing to launch the Galbot ET1 and a new version of its AstraBrain embodied foundation model.
The company describes the ET1 as the world's first humanoid with autonomous learning, and pitches AstraBrain as a 'one brain, many skills' system that can drive different form factors, from bipeds to wheeled and heavy-load platforms.
Demos included long-horizon tasks like breakfast preparation, with the robot re-planning when cups were moved or targets were occluded, plus flexible manipulation such as folding clothes and doing laundry. Founder Wang He said the company has amassed 1 million hours of human data and 80,000 hours of real-world feedback, and is opening its simulation platform, data-collection rigs, and training pipeline to outside developers.
Commercially, Galaxy General says its smart pharmacy solution is running in around 100 instant-retail warehouses across dozens of Chinese cities, and the Galbot S1 is now operating 24/7 on CATL battery production lines.
Chery's AiMOGA prepares humanoid IPO, targets 10,000 units next year
AiMOGA Robotics, the humanoid unit incubated by Chery Automobile, is preparing an initial public offering.
That's according to unit head and Chery International president Zhang Guibing, speaking on the sidelines of the World Robot Conference in Beijing. He said the company is in discussions with several venues but declined to name a location or timing.
AiMOGA says it has already delivered more than 3,000 robots globally, deployed 110 police robots across Chinese cities, and is pushing into the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It is targeting 10,000 humanoid deliveries next year, a massive jump.
The IPO push arrives as Chinese robotics valuations reprice sharply higher on the back of Unitree's Shanghai debut.
RayNex G3 flexes serious muscle
Meanwhile, NineRay Technology has unveiled a new humanoid in Hong Kong, and this one apparently did not skip leg day.
The RayNex G3 stands 173 centimeters tall — about five-foot-eight — and weighs less than 60 kilograms. NineRay says it can carry 30 kilograms during operation, hold 60 kilograms with both arms, and deadlift between 100 and 200 kilograms.
At its Hong Kong Science Park launch, the robot walked across the stage carrying more than 60 kilograms and then demonstrated a simulated barbell side-lift.
It has 32 degrees of freedom, including seven in each arm and six in each leg.
NineRay founder Xu Zhigen says the G3 is aimed at real work, including warehouse logistics and precision industrial tasks, and says companies ranging from food and beverage manufacturers to the nuclear power industry have already approached NineRay about potential applications.
The company is also making Hong Kong its base for global expansion.
Number of the day: $0
You can win a free Unitree robot from Toborlife AI. Just enter the contest (you do have to live in the United States.)
It's only an R1 basic, but it's still a humanoid robot ... for free.
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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.”