The embodied intelligence industry is experiencing rapid acceleration in software and hardware development, coupled with continuous expansion of application scenarios. According to a recent research report from Minmetals Securities, humanoid robots, leveraging their strong capabilities in cross-scenario adaptation and AI implementation, are expected to reshape the industrial ecosystem over the next 5 to 10 years. They are projected to achieve large-scale penetration in various fields such as industrial manufacturing and medical rehabilitation, becoming a strategic high ground in the new wave of technological revolution.
Recently, domestic listed companies have accelerated their layout in embodied intelligence products, ranging from robot “brain” solutions to applications in factory logistics scenarios, actively addressing shortcomings in segmented industry scenes. Internationally, leading enterprises and startups are also making frequent moves in technological breakthroughs and mass production planning.
1. New Product Launches by Listed Companies
On September 18, Joyson Electronics held a new product launch event, releasing an AI head assembly for robots, a full-domain controller based on NVIDIA’s Jetson Thor chip, and a new generation of robot energy management products. Joyson Electronics stated that this AI head assembly, specifically designed for embodied intelligence robots, highly integrates flexible displays, microphone arrays, depth cameras, and other functions. The equipped multi-modal AI interaction system enables active voice interaction and face recognition tracking, “allowing the robot not only to understand what you say but also to sense what you feel.”
Yu Zhaohui, Secretary of the Board of Joyson Electronics, mentioned, “In the past, robots were mostly self-assembled by manufacturers, leading to compatibility and stability issues. We have addressed the core pain point of software and hardware coordination by using automotive-grade manufacturing processes to create system assemblies.”
The full-domain controller released on the same day is a core element of the robot’s “brain.” It is reported that this controller, built on NVIDIA’s Jetson Thor chip, delivers AI computing power of 2070 TOPS, which is 7.5 times that of the previous generation, with CPU performance improved by 3.1 times. It supports real-time inference for end-side large models with hundreds of billions of parameters. Joyson Electronics revealed that since 2025, the company has leveraged automotive-grade advanced manufacturing technologies and processes to establish collaborations with Zhiyuan Robot, Yinhe Tongyong, and the Swiss embodied intelligence robot company RIVR.
On September 21, Hikrobot held a 2025 mobile robot ecosystem product special launch event, focusing on core challenges in the deepening process of industrial logistics automation. The company introduced three new products: a controller integration kit, a universal 3D integrated logistics simulation platform called PlantMirror, and a mobile robot system named EasyAMR. A relevant responsible person from Hikrobot stated during the event, “The new products will help manufacturing customers solve difficulties in adapting to non-standard scenarios and high simulation costs, promoting the deep integration of mobile robots with industrial scenes.”
2. Accelerated Technological Breakthroughs
Currently, global embodied intelligence enterprises are driving the accelerated development of the humanoid robot industry through efforts by leading companies to tackle mass production and startups to achieve technological breakthroughs. As a leading embodied intelligence enterprise in overseas markets, Tesla announced in 2024 that Optimus has acquired capabilities for upper limb heavy object handling, dynamic grasping, and lower limb autonomous movement on complex terrains. Recently, Tesla indicated it would further optimize the product’s gait on rough terrain, speed response, and fall recovery functions.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly stated in public, “We will expand Optimus production at the fastest speed, expecting to achieve an annual production target of 1 million units within 5 years.” This aligns with Tesla’s latest compensation incentive plan for Musk—according to the plan, one requirement for Musk to receive subsequent equity incentives is for the company to cumulatively deliver 1 million humanoid robots. Tesla stated that Optimus 3 will be launched by the end of 2025, with mass production starting in 2026, and the product’s estimated price range is between $20,000 and $30,000.
Among overseas startups, Figure AI has recently become a market focus. On September 16 local time, Figure AI announced the completion of its Series C financing, led by Baijia Venture Capital, with follow-up investments from NVIDIA, Intel Capital, LG Technology Ventures, and other institutions. The committed investment funds exceeded $1 billion, resulting in a post-investment valuation of $39 billion. Figure AI stated that this round of financing will be used to promote the entry of robots into home and commercial scenarios, build GPU training infrastructure, and initiate advanced data collection work.
1X Technologies, which has gained market favor with home robot products, released the humanoid robot product Neo Gamma this year. This robot can perform a series of household chores such as making coffee, doing laundry, and vacuuming. The company founder mentioned that Neo Gamma has recently moved out of the laboratory, with plans to deploy hundreds to thousands of units of this model to home users by the end of 2025 for early testing, collecting real environment data to optimize the model. However, there is still a long way to go before commercialization is achieved.
Minmetals Securities’ research report indicated that star startups like Figure AI, Agility, and 1X Technologies continue to evolve, accelerating the landing of overseas humanoid robots in core scenarios such as industrial manufacturing, logistics sorting, and home services. 2025 is expected to be the first year of mass production for overseas humanoid robots, with technological research and development, mass production landing, and commercial applications achieving leapfrog development.
Industry insiders noted that the rapid progress of overseas embodied intelligence enterprises proves that the entire industry’s development has entered a critical stage, with leading companies possessing relatively low-cost mass production capabilities. Industry competition will continue to heat up, and companies will launch new products as soon as possible to attract consumer attention. Meanwhile, the industry’s broad prospects also provide opportunities for Chinese enterprises with cost advantages and industrial integration capabilities, enabling them to achieve rapid development by joining the industrial chains of leading humanoid robot enterprises.
Zhang Yongwei, Chairman of the China EV100, stated that smart cars, smart robots, and low-altitude aircraft, as the “three major pieces” of aggregated intelligence, essentially share characteristics of technological homology, chain interconnection, and application integration. They are expected to become new engines for Chinese enterprises going global, following the export “new three样” (likely referring to new export drivers).
A securities analyst further analyzed that automotive component enterprises have inherent advantages in the embodied intelligence field, as they possess strong customer expansion capabilities and batch production experience. Moreover, their main products share technological commonality with robot components, allowing them to quickly enter the robot supply chain by leveraging automotive customer resources. However, he also mentioned that the valuations of some enterprises in this sector have already reflected growth expectations for the next 3-5 years, and caution is needed regarding valuation adjustment pressures if technology landing falls short of expectations.
3. Breakthroughs in Application Scenarios
In terms of landing applications, enterprises are actively seeking more adapted scenarios. Currently, the entry of humanoid robots into industrial scenes has become a relatively certain application trend both domestically and internationally. Previously, Zhiyuan Robot reached a project cooperation worth tens of millions of yuan with Fuling Precision, where nearly a hundred Expedition A2-W robots are about to enter Fuling Precision’s factory. This case represents a typical example of large-scale commercial signing for embodied robots in the domestic industrial field.
Deng Yang, Director of Engineering at Fuling Precision, revealed that the company started exploring robot applications in factories with medicine box handling as an entry point. Currently, the handling efficiency of embodied intelligence robots is about 60%-70% of that of humans. Subsequently, Fuling Precision plans to use Zhiyuan Robot and AMR carts for collaborative operations, building a complete system for material box distribution and empty box recovery, further reducing manual labor intensity. This model not only alleviates labor shortages but also brings new optimization space to factory production processes.
Ubtech has signed multiple robot procurement contracts with various customers this year. The company stated that it is accelerating the production process of humanoid robots, expecting to deliver 500 industrial humanoid robots within 2025. Tan Min, Chief Brand Officer of Ubtech, mentioned that current applications of Ubtech robots in factories mainly focus on three categories: sorting, handling, and quality inspection. He estimated that through 5 to 10 years of real-scene accumulation and hundreds of billions of yuan in capital investment, artificial intelligence will support humanoid robots entering more core positions.
Various industries are exploring more applicable scenarios for humanoid robots. The 2025 humanoid robot half-marathon and robot sports meeting, originally seen more as product displays and testing activities for humanoid robots, have been seized by sports equipment enterprises as an opportunity to start new attempts at using humanoid robots for product testing and sports science research.
At Li-Ning Sports Science Research Center, the “Tianguang Ultra” robot from the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, wearing running shoes, continuously collected data on a 200-meter track and treadmill through joint sensors, providing data references for running shoe performance optimization. “In the past, testing required 4-8 professional athletes to participate for 2-3 days, plus data processing taking one month. Now, robots can produce results on the same day,” said Yang Fan, Senior Director of Li-Ning Sports Science Application Research Center. Robot testing not only shortens the testing cycle but also eliminates the impact of human differences. “We are establishing a running shoe database through robots and plan to explore robot applications in testing equipment for badminton and basketball in the future.”
4. Policy Support and Future Outlook
According to the notice issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and sixteen other departments on the “Robot+” application action implementation plan, by 2025, China aims to focus on 10 major application areas, break through more than 100 types of robot innovation application technologies and solutions, and promote over 200 robot typical application scenarios with high technical levels, innovative application models, and significant application results.
Recently, a relevant responsible person from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated at the “High-Quality Completion of the ’14th Five-Year Plan'” series of themed press conferences that China currently possesses full industrial chain manufacturing capabilities for humanoid robots, from key chips and components to complete machines. In the future, efforts will be made to strengthen industrial supply, accelerate technological breakthroughs in high-end computing power chips, industrial multi-modal algorithms, and software-hardware adaptation, and speed up the creation of high-quality datasets to solidify the industrial foundation. The deployment of intelligent agents will be promoted, developing end products of artificial intelligence such as humanoid robots.
The embodied intelligence industry is poised for significant growth, with embodied robots becoming integral to various sectors. The synergy between software, hardware, and diverse scenarios is driving this acceleration, making embodied intelligence a cornerstone of future technological advancements. As companies continue to innovate and policies provide robust support, the embodied robot ecosystem is set to expand, offering transformative solutions across industries and enhancing global competitiveness in the field of embodied intelligence.