Before you read the numbers: four common traps

Chinese companies publish a lot of deployment data, but it is rarely comparable. Before reading this article, or any supplier brochure, separate four things:

1. Produced is not deployed. Cumulative production shows manufacturing capacity, not how many robots are working at customer sites.

2. Success rates are mostly company-reported. They usually apply to one line, one part and one period, and cannot simply be extrapolated.

3. A pilot is not a paid order. Showcase partnerships, joint launches and framework agreements are not the same as repeat purchasing.

4. Working in China does not mean ready for Europe. Selling here also requires CE conformity documentation, local service and a supply of spare parts.

Amounts in Chinese yuan (CNY) are converted to euros at roughly CNY 8.3 per euro and rounded.

Tier 1: already working on production lines

AgiBot | Shanghai

Profile: China's highest-volume humanoid robot maker, with full-size humanoids, wheeled humanoids, small humanoids and quadrupeds.

Evidence:

• AgiBot passed 10,000 robots produced at the end of March 2026 and its 15,000th robot left the line on 28 June, less than three months later [1].

• According to IDC, it led global humanoid shipments in the first half of 2026 with more than 8,600 units [2].

• At Longcheer's plant in Nanchang, eight wheeled Genie G2 robots worked on a live tablet quality-inspection line for more than 64 hours. The company reported a task success rate of 99.99% [3].

• In April 2026 it launched seven standardised packages: loading and unloading on production lines, industrial handling, logistics sorting, guided retail assistance, retail service stations, security patrol and commercial cleaning [4].

Why it matters for Europe: AgiBot is the Chinese maker closest to a standard product. Single-station tasks such as machine loading and quality inspection are the most realistic pilots for European manufacturers.

Dobot | Shenzhen

Profile: Started with collaborative robots and listed in Hong Kong in 2024. According to its annual report, it was the world's largest cobot supplier by units sold in 2025 [5]. Since 2025 it has also built a full-size industrial humanoid, ATOM.

Evidence:

• Mass production and delivery of the third ATOM batch began in February 2026. The robot is priced at CNY 199,000 (about EUR 24,000) [6].

• Revenue roughly doubled to CNY 112 million (about EUR 13.5 million) in the first quarter of 2026 [7], and the company guided first-half revenue at CNY 300–330 million [8].

Why it matters for Europe: Dobot's cobots already have customers and distribution in Europe, which most Chinese humanoid makers lack. Its experience of running robots in factories is also deeper than that of pure humanoid start-ups.

Leju Robotics | Shenzhen

Profile: One of China's earliest humanoid robot teams, with roots at the Harbin Institute of Technology. Its main product is the full-size humanoid Kuavo.

Evidence:

• In April 2025 Leju announced that Kuavo robots had been deployed in batches at FAW Hongqi's car plant for logistics sorting and handling [9].

• Xinhua reported in May 2025 that the robots were still being tested on the production lines [10].

Why it matters for Europe: Car plants are where humanoid robots meet formal industrial purchasing, and that is the logic closest to Europe's automotive industry. The gap between the announcement and the reported test status is also a reminder to ask what "deployed" means.

Tier 2: piloting in several scenarios, commercialising fast

AI² Robotics | Shenzhen

Profile: Founded in 2023 by Guo Yandong, formerly chief scientist at OPPO. It develops the robot's body and its AI model together, and its AlphaBot robots run on its own vision-language-action model.

Evidence: In February 2026 it raised more than CNY 1 billion (about EUR 120 million) at a valuation above CNY 10 billion [11]. The company says AlphaBot is used in semiconductor, automotive and electronics manufacturing, biotechnology and public services [12]. The founder argues for "factories first, homes later".

Why it matters for Europe: Well funded with a clear strategy, but few deployment figures can be checked independently so far. Worth watching.

MagicLab

Profile: Founded in 2024 and incubated by the home-appliance maker Dreame [13]. It develops its own joints, hands and reducers, and builds both humanoid and quadruped robots.

Evidence: In June 2026 it signed a strategic agreement with JD.com that aims for CNY 1 billion (about EUR 120 million) in sales of MagicLab products on JD's platform. The agreement focuses on consumer products and on education, inspection and guided tours [14].

Why it matters for Europe: It is focused on China's consumer and service market for now, and industrial evidence is limited.

Home and consumer: further from European industrial buyers, but worth knowing

SwitchBot (OneRobotics) | Shenzhen

Profile: The company behind the smart-home brand SwitchBot, which many European consumers already use. It listed in Hong Kong at the end of 2025 [15].

Evidence: At CES in January 2026 it unveiled onero H1, a wheeled household robot with two arms that autonomously completed a laundry task on stage. It is listed at just under USD 10,000, with deliveries planned for late 2026 [16].

Why it matters for Europe: SwitchBot is one of the few Chinese robot companies built for overseas markets from the start, with sales channels in Europe already in place.

INFIFORCE | Hangzhou

Profile: Builds wheeled humanoids for commercial use and small bipeds for consumers. In February 2026 it launched Xiaoyuanzi, a 95 cm, 20 kg biped for home companionship and education, which took 111 pre-orders in its first days [17].

Why it matters for Europe: An early consumer product with limited relevance for industrial buyers.

Heavy-duty and special applications

Kepler | Shanghai

Profile: Founded in 2023, Kepler describes its robots as "blue-collar humanoids" for manufacturing, warehousing and special operations. It develops around 80% of its core components in-house, including planetary roller screw actuators [18].

Evidence:

• Its K2 "Bumblebee" humanoid lifts up to 30 kg with both arms and runs for about eight hours per charge [18].

• In June 2026 it unveiled the "Mechanical Qilin", a heavy-duty quadruped weighing about 300 kg with a payload approaching one tonne and around eight hours of operation. In demonstrations it towed a full-size van [19].

• The idea is a division of labour: the humanoid handles precise work, and the quadruped moves heavy loads.

Why it matters for Europe: It is a pragmatic answer to the question of whether a humanoid is needed at all: use the right form for the job. Moving heavy loads inside a plant is a need many European manufacturers share.

Core components: what European companies can buy today

Complete humanoid robots are still in pilots, but their key components are already produced at scale. According to Smart Analytics Global, Chinese companies accounted for 96% of shipments of dexterous hands with six or more active degrees of freedom in the first half of 2026 [20].

Inspire Robots | Beijing

Profile: Founded in 2016, it started with micro linear servo actuators and is one of China's leading makers of five-finger dexterous hands.

Evidence: The company says it delivered more than 10,000 dexterous hands in 2025, up from about 2,000 in 2024. Its annual capacity is 30,000–50,000 hands [21].

LinkerBot | Beijing

Profile: Founded in 2023, it specialises in high-dexterity robot hands with between 6 and 42 degrees of freedom.

Evidence:

• The company says it holds more than 80% of the global market for high-degree-of-freedom hands. It also says its hands are used by industrial groups including Siemens and Samsung [22].

• Reuters reports output of almost 5,000 hands a month, with plans to reach 10,000 [23].

Why it matters for Europe: For European robot developers, integrators and research institutes, sourcing hands, joint modules and other components from China is a way to start now, with more manageable risk.

How to use this map

1. Match the tier to your goal. For a production pilot, look at Tier 1. For R&D or system integration, look at the component makers. Consumer products are not suited to industrial settings.

2. Let the task decide the form. A two-legged humanoid is not always the answer. AgiBot's Genie G2 on the Longcheer line is wheeled, Kepler uses a quadruped for heavy loads, and at many stations Dobot's collaborative arms are still the more mature choice.

3. Go and see it working. A trade-show video shows what a robot can do, not what it does reliably every day. Ask for a visit to a customer site or a comparable line. Seeing the real working environment in China tells you more than a demo on a European stand.

4. Start with components. If the business case for a complete robot does not yet add up, begin by evaluating Chinese hands, actuators and sensors.

On supplier viability, CE conformity and data transfers, see our article Crossing the "Valley of Death": Four hurdles between China's humanoid robots and commercial scale.

Sources

Where available, we link to primary and English-language sources. Sources marked (in Chinese) are original Chinese publications.

1. The Robot Report, "AGIBOT produces 15,000th robot, marking a milestone in embodied AI deployment", June 2026. https://www.therobotreport.com/agibot-produces-15000th-robot-marking-milestone-embodied-ai-deployment/

2. Robotics & Automation News, "Agibot leads global humanoid robot shipments in H1 2026, IDC data shows", 2 October 2026. https://roboticsandautomationnews.com/2026/10/02/idc-data-shows-agibot-led-global-humanoid-robot-shipments-in-h1-2026/105463/

3. Interesting Engineering, "AGIBOT puts humanoid robots to work in real factory production". https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/agibot-g2-humanoid-robots-live-production-line

4. AgiBot, "AGIBOT Declares 2026 'Deployment Year One' at APC 2026", press release, April 2026. https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/agibot-declares-2026-deployment-year-one--at-apc-2026-accelerating-the-era-of-embodied-ai-productivity-302746181.html

5. Shenzhen Dobot Corp Ltd, Annual Report 2025. https://financialfilings.com/filings/shenzhen-dobot-corp-ltd/annual-report/2026/33088072/

6. Interesting Engineering, "Dobot releases third ATOM humanoid batch as synchronized robots work", February 2026. https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/dobot-releases-third-humanoid-robot-batch

7. Bamboo Works, "Dobot taps Shenzhen market to fund its bet on humanoid robots", 2026. https://thebambooworks.com/dobot-taps-shenzhen-market-to-fund-its-bet-on-humanoid-robots/

8. TipRanks, "Dobot Posts Surging H1 Revenue but Wider Loss on FX and Share-Based Costs", 2026. https://www.tipranks.com/news/company-announcements/dobot-posts-surging-h1-revenue-but-wider-loss-on-fx-and-share-based-costs

9. Shenzhen Media Group on X, on Leju's Kuavo at FAW Hongqi, 2025. https://x.com/sz_mediagroup/status/1923309951096856941

10. Xinhua, "China's humanoid robots gain momentum in commercial rollout", 27 May 2025. https://english.news.cn/20250527/e383c991c5fa447aba23cb4da64febaa/c.html

11. Caixin Global, "China's AI² Robotics Raises Fresh Funds at Over 10 Billion Yuan Valuation", 23 February 2026. https://www.caixinglobal.com/2026-02-23/chinas-ai-robotics-raises-fresh-funds-at-over-10-billion-yuan-valuation-102416310.html

12. Robotics 24/7, "AI² Robotics raises over $140M in Series B round", 2026. https://www.robotics247.com/article/ai-robotics-raises-over-140m-in-series-b-round

13. RobotTesters, "MagicLab (Magic Atom): The Humanoid Startup That Stole the Show". https://robottesters.com/article-magiclab-magic-atom

14. Gasgoo, "JD.com and MagicLab announce strategic partnership", June 2026. https://autonews.gasgoo.com/articles/news/jdcom-and-magiclab-announce-strategic-partnership-2070349080528928769

15. Bamboo Works, "Switchbot taps market frenzy for robotic stocks". https://thebambooworks.com/switchbot-taps-market-frenzy-for-robotic-stocks/

16. SwitchBot, onero H1 product page. https://www.switch-bot.com/products/onero-h1

17. 36Kr, "111台小原子预定背后：谁在为'下一代机器人'投票", February 2026 (in Chinese). https://36kr.com/p/3675521046143619

18. EqualOcean, "Inside Kepler: Focusing on the Industrial Implementation of Embodied AI", 13 May 2026. https://equalocean.com/news/2026051321887-inside-kepler-focusing-industrial-implementation-embodied-ai

19. Gasgoo, "Kepler Debuts 'Mechanical Qilin' Heavy-Duty Quadruped Platform", June 2026. https://autonews.gasgoo.com/articles/news/kepler-debuts-mechanical-qilin-heavy-duty-quadruped-platform-2067247549898166273

20. AI Business, "China leads dexterous hand supply for humanoids" (Smart Analytics Global data), 2026. https://aibusiness.com/robotics/china-leads-dexterous-hand-supply

21. Inspire Robots, About Us. https://en.inspire-robots.com/about-us/

22. Mike Kalil, "The Surprising Rise of Linkerbot", 2026. https://mikekalil.com/blog/the-rise-of-linkerbot/

23. Reuters, "China robot-hand-building unicorn Linkerbot targets $6 billion valuation", 3 May 2026, via The Next Web. https://thenextweb.com/news/linkerbot-china-robot-hand-6-billion-valuation