At the press conference for the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Gan Xiaobin, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology at China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), stated that China’s annual production volume of humanoid robots is expected to exceed 100,000 units in 2026. As of early June, Unitree Robotics had cumulatively produced approximately 11,000 bipedal humanoid robots. In late June, Agibot Robotics rolled out its 15,000th embodied intelligent robot—less than three months after achieving mass production of 10,000 units. The automated humanoid robot production line jointly built by Dongfang Jinggong and Leju Robotics, with an annual capacity exceeding 10,000 units, began operations at the end of March, producing one unit every 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Zhongqing Robotics’ Shenzhen Honghualing facility commenced production in May, accelerating output to one robot every 15 minutes. On July 9, Insta360 announced the formation of a robotics team, officially entering the consumer robotics market. Its first product—a home-use autonomous photography robot codenamed “Cameraman”—is scheduled for launch in the second half of 2027. The project has been underway for 18 months, with a nearly 100-person team whose core members hail from DJI, Ecovacs, and Horizon Robotics. RoboSense reported total LiDAR sales of 719,200 units in the first half of the year, a 170% year-over-year increase. Of these, 282,600 units were sold into the robotics sector (up 510% YoY), and 436,600 units went to ADAS applications (up 98% YoY). The company now collaborates with over 3,400 robotics firms, including nearly 50 leading humanoid and quadruped robot companies such as Unitree, Agibot, Galaxy通用 (Galaxy General), Zhongqing, and Yuejiang. As of March 31, 2026, RoboSense’s automotive business had secured定点 (design wins) for 177 vehicle models from 36 automakers, with outstanding orders exceeding 9 million units. On July 9, Mitsubishi Motors announced a partnership with Japanese startup Highlanders to co-develop humanoid robots. Production is slated to begin in 2027 at Mitsubishi’s Kyoto engine plant, with an initial monthly capacity of 1,000 units. These robots will initially handle internal parts transportation and assembly tasks, with potential external sales contingent on test results. Mitsubishi completed its investment in Highlanders in May 2026. Stellar Era (Xingdong Jiyuan) closed a RMB 1 billion financing round on July 6—the company’s third major funding round in 2026—bringing its total raised capital to over RMB 3 billion. Focused on full-stack, in-house development of both “embodied brains” and “humanoid bodies,” the company achieves over 95% hardware self-reliance and initiated batch deliveries at the thousand-unit scale in Q2 2026. Morphi, an embodied intelligence startup, completed a Series Angel round exceeding RMB 1 billion, achieving a post-money valuation of over RMB 7 billion. The round was co-led by Alibaba and Tencent, with participation from more than ten other investors. Founded in 2025, Morphi’s founding team includes former leaders from Huawei’s Intelligent Automotive Solution BU’s AI driving division. Momenta listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on July 8 under stock code 6880.HK, pricing its shares at HK$295.6 each and raising approximately HK$6.8 billion. The company has already deployed its solutions in over 1 million mass-produced vehicles across more than 210 designated models. Its client base includes all major Chinese passenger vehicle manufacturers and nine of the world’s top ten automakers. Momenta’s Robotaxi business has partnered with Uber, Grab, and Mercedes-Benz, with deployments across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. XPeng Group recently launched an internal employee trial of its Robotaxi service. The company’s first fully in-house developed mass-production Robotaxi rolled off the Guangzhou production line on May 18, based on its flagship GX model. Equipped with four self-developed Turing AI chips delivering 3,000 TOPS of computing power and powered by its second-generation VLA large model, the vehicle features Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities. Demonstration operations are expected to commence in the second half of 2026.