How far humanoid robots are from our lives.

With the rapid iteration of technology, delivery service robots and stir-frying robots have begun to appear more and more in our lives, and these humanoid robots with appearance and action closer to humans have frequently refreshed people's cognition of science and technology. As a highly integrated industrial product involving multiple cutting-edge technologies, what can humanoid robots do now? How long does it take to get into ordinary people's lives? What bottlenecks need to be broken through in the future? With the help of a motion tracking system, a silver and black humanoid robot slowly raised its right hand as workers raised their arms, caught a bottle of mineral water with an open palm and clenched it, then handed it to a worker next to it before letting go. The whole process is fluid and natural, like a human interacting with a partner. This is the test scene seen by the reporter in Leju (Shenzhen) Robot Technology Co., LTD. The "Kua Fu" high dynamic humanoid robot developed by the company, weighing about 45 kilograms, height of about 1.6 meters, walking speed of up to 5 kilometers per hour, rapid continuous jump height of more than 20 centimeters, can be realized through the open source Hongmeng operating system intelligent link application, has been gradually applied in scientific research, education, commercial services and other fields. Humanoid robots, also known as humanoid robots and bionic robots, usually have features similar to human appearance such as head, torso, arms and legs, and have certain movement and perception abilities. The rapid development of China's humanoid robot field has attracted the attention of the global scientific and technological community. Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure AI, an American humanoid robot star company, has praised Leju Robot on social media. In recent years, technology giants around the world have continued to increase artificial intelligence and intelligent interconnection, and breakthroughs and innovations have been made in the field of humanoid robots. At the International Consumer Electronics Show 2025, technology giants such as Nvidia demonstrated the latest progress of their humanoid robots, which became one of the core highlights of the exhibition. The humanoid robot "Optimus Prime" developed by Tesla is already able to walk like a human, can achieve natural turns and other abilities, and is able to accurately pass eggs between left and right hands. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that Tesla will have thousands of humanoid robots working by 2025, and formal commercial mass production will start in 2026. According to incomplete statistics from the Research Institute of Shenzhen New Strategic Media Co., LTD., as of June 2024, there are more than 160 humanoid robot manufacturing enterprises in the world, of which more than 60 Chinese enterprises, accounting for 37%, are the largest number of humanoid robot manufacturing enterprises in the world. The US and Japan came in second and third, with 19% and 11% respectively. At present, the mainstream humanoid robots in the market are expensive, and the high price even exceeds 500,000 yuan. In order to let more customers can feel the charm of humanoid robots, Yao Qiyuan, founder and marketing director of Shenzhen Zhongqing Robot Technology Co., LTD., said that the company adheres to the cost-effective strategy, launched the SE01 humanoid robot price of about $20,000 to $30,000, to universities and scientific research institutes as the main target customers, has sold hundreds of units. In January 2024, the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting Future Industrial Innovation and Development" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other seven departments proposed that it is necessary to strengthen future high-end equipment, break through high-end equipment products such as humanoid robots, and drive the industrialization of new technologies by the whole machine to create the world's leading high-end equipment system. Leng Xiaokun, the chairman of Leju Robotics, said that when humanoid robot technology is stable, "it can do everything people do, and there is a lot of room for imagination." According to the International Robotics Association, from 2021 to 2030, the compound annual growth rate of the global humanoid robot market will be as high as 71%. Data released by the Chinese Society of Electronics also shows that by 2030, China's humanoid robot market is expected to reach about 870 billion yuan. Tan Min, chief brand officer of Youbi, said that industrial manufacturing, commercial services and family companionship are the three major application scenarios for humanoid robots at present. Humanoid robots have been initially applied in commercial services and industrial manufacturing scenarios, "We are very optimistic that humanoid robots will continue to be applied in intelligent manufacturing, commercial services and home fields." It is expected that humanoid robots will enter thousands of homes in the future and become a necessity in every family." A special report on the robot industry by Zhongtai Securities pointed out that humanoid robots have been experimentally applied in many fields such as home services, shopping mall reception, and flexible manufacturing. In the future, the replacement of artificial robots will start from the flexible production link of intelligent manufacturing. The greatest significance of the application of humanoid robots in the industrial field is that enterprises do not need to transform production lines for mechanization. "We found that there are still a large number of links in the factory scene that rely on manual labor and cannot be solved with industrial robots. Humanoid robots can be 1:1 adapted to existing production lines and can be deployed without modification." Leng Xiaokun said. Similar to the human body and kinetic energy design, meaning that humanoid robots are more likely to become participants in human social activities. Under the ability of artificial intelligence technology, humanoid robots will have the ability to learn autonomously, be able to think like people, and to achieve communication and emotional companionship to a certain extent. Humanoid robots have significant potential to alleviate the aging population crisis, especially in providing daily assistance, health monitoring and emotional companionship, Tan said. "Humanoid robots can not only help the elderly with some simple daily tasks, but also monitor their physical condition in real time." At present, humanoid robots are still far from large-scale mass production and application. "Hiring" humanoid robots to work in factories and supermarkets is still a "fashionable" rather than an absolutely "affordable" choice. For example, in the factory sector, humanoid robots are still in the small trial stage, and only a small number of advanced factories have begun to explore the use of certain workflows. Industry insiders predict that it may take three to five years for humanoid robots to enter the production line more, and it will take longer for them to truly enter people's lives, requiring higher accuracy and safety. In addition, how to overcome the technical bottleneck and reasonably control the cost has become the key to the mass production of humanoid robots. Set machinery, electronics, materials, computers, sensors, control technology and other disciplines in one of the humanoid robots, the industrial chain is highly complex, and there are many core technologies to be improved. At present, each company's humanoid robot products show a high degree of customization, lack of truly universal parts, resulting in high manufacturing costs. When it comes to the future development of the humanoid robot industry, Tan Min believes that "patient capital" is crucial. He said that as a cutting-edge technology, the research and development and commercialization of humanoid robots require long-term investment and continuous innovation. The industry generally expects that 2025 to 2030 will be a critical period for humanoid robots to shift from "proof of concept" to "scale commercial". Yao Qiyuan suggested accelerating the landing of humanoid robot related standards, constantly opening up application scenarios, and letting humanoid robots "apply first." Leng Xiaokun believes: "Compared with foreign countries, China has a richer application scenario, which helps humanoid robots to be fully trained. It is expected that policy, technology and demand will jointly promote the development of the humanoid robot industry.