Humanoid robots are getting cheaper and closer to mass production

In short: Humanoid robots are moving from small pilots to wider factory use as more suppliers enter the market and prices fall.

What's going on

Humanoid robots are essentially AI in a body, meaning software that can decide what to do, paired with arms, legs, and hands that can do it. They are still not common yet. The Financial Times cites estimates of around 25,000 humanoid robots in use, with most of them in China.

Several companies are now pushing toward larger scale production. The article points to Tesla, Xpeng, and Xiaomi, which are all electric vehicle makers working on humanoid robots. Big tech companies are also trying to make robots more flexible, so they can handle new tasks without being specially trained for each one, like a worker who can be shown a new job and learn it.

Costs are dropping quickly, which matters for adoption. Barclays estimates humanoid robot prices have fallen about 30 times in the past decade to around $100,000 each. That is roughly similar to a year of total cost for a US factory worker when you include benefits. In China, some models are far cheaper, and Unitree lists prices starting at $13,500, while Elon Musk has suggested Tesla’s Optimus could eventually sell for about $30,000.

What to watch

Two potential brakes stand out. One is the supply of actuators (the parts that act like muscles), which rely on rare earth magnets where China has strong control, making pricing and availability a risk. The other is politics, since factory and warehouse jobs often have strong local importance, and governments may respond as robots spread.

Source: Financial Times