Humanoid robot production surges in 2025 but real-world deployment remains limited, report finds

Global humanoid robot production rose sharply in 2025 but remains heavily concentrated in China and has yet to translate into widespread commercial deployment, according to a new industry report from Interact Analysis.

The report, Humanoid Robots – 2026, found global production exceeded 20,000 units in 2025, up from fewer than 2,000 the previous year. However, only about 10 per cent of those units were deployed in real-world applications, with most used for research, data collection and entertainment.

The findings suggest most operational projects remain small-scale proof-of-concept deployments, often supported by government subsidies, strategic investment or supply chain partnerships, rather than large-scale commercial rollouts driven by return on investment.

China accounted for more than 90 per cent of global production, with about 75 per cent of deployments occurring domestically. The report also noted that Chinese manufacturers dominated the sector, with the top five producers based in China accounting for roughly 70 per cent of global output.

Two manufacturers, Unitree Robotics and Agibot, each produced more than 5,000 units in 2025, together representing more than half of global production.

Despite rapid growth, the report said most use cases remain limited to pilots and controlled environments, with autonomous operation, return on investment and general-purpose task capability still forming a major technical barrier for the industry.

It described ongoing challenges in scaling humanoid robots for commercial use, including gaps in embodied artificial intelligence, limited physical training data, hardware endurance constraints and the absence of clear safety standards and regulatory frameworks.

Looking ahead, the report expects annual production volumes to continue rising into the thousands of units, but says large-scale commercial adoption is unlikely within the next five years.

It forecasts a potential commercial inflection point after 2032, contingent on advances in autonomy, reliability and regulation. By 2035, it projects global shipments for real-world applications could exceed 700,000 units, generating about US$15 billion in revenue.

The report notes that near-term deployments are likely to remain semi-autonomous, with human teleoperation still required for complex or hazardous tasks, while fully autonomous systems may first emerge in environments with higher tolerance for operational risk.