Unitree's Strategy to Make Humanoid Robots Work - Bismarck Brief
By volume of humanoid robots shipped, the largest humanoid robotics company in the world is China’s Unitree. Founded in August 2016 in Hangzhou by currently 36-year-old Wang Xingxing, who remains CEO today, the company makes both bipedal and quadruped robot...
Key takeaways
- The most recent headlines show a rapid surge of activity across the global humanoid‑robot market.
- On July 22, 2026 a UK‑based company called Humanoid announced a $152 million Series A round that lifted its post‑money valuation to $1.35 billion, making it Europe’s first pure‑play humanoid‑robotics unicorn; the funding will accelerate development of its next‑generation wheel‑based humanoid platform, begin mass manufacturing, and expand deployments in logistics, manufacturing and retail, with a beta roll‑out slated for Q4 2026 and a landmark commercial deal with Schaeffler for thousands of units.
- In the United States, Agility Robotics, the maker of the bipedal Digit robot, opened a 60,000‑square‑foot “robot school” in Fremont and reiterated that it will avoid the talent‑bidding wars that dominate the AI sector, focusing instead on sustainable growth and continued commercial use of Digit across more than 65,000 hours of work.
- Meanwhile, Generative Bionics debuted its Gene.01 humanoid at AMD Advancing AI 2026, highlighting full‑body tactile sensing and physics‑native AI that allow the robot to interpret physical interactions more naturally, backed by a €70 million funding round raised in late 2025.
- At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, AGIBOT unveiled the A3 Ultra, a 1.74 m, 60 kg full‑size humanoid with 51 active degrees of freedom, 8 hours of operation, and a multimodal perception suite including lidar, RGB‑D and UWB positioning for public‑facing and service roles.
By volume of humanoid robots shipped, the largest humanoid robotics company in the world is China’s Unitree. Founded in August 2016 in Hangzhou by currently 36-year-old Wang Xingxing, who remains CEO today, the company makes both bipedal and quadruped robots across a number of different product lines. Its G1 and H2 robots have repeatedly gone viral on social media and earned worldwide publicity thanks to events like their February 2026 display at the China Media Group’s Spring Gala Festival, where the robots demonstrated high levels of coordination and agility in a choreographed dance routine. In total, the company has sold around 10,000 humanoid robots to date, including 5500 in 2025 alone, and has also sold at least 33,000 quadrupeds.1 None of Unitree’s competitors, both U.S. and # Bismarck Brief
Unitree's Strategy to Make Humanoid Robots Work
The young Chinese robotics company has won profits and acclaim by driving cost reductions in humanoid and quadruped robots. Its ultimate ambition will depend on software breakthroughs in AI models.
Samo Burja
Jul 15, 2026
∙ Paid
This Bismarck Brief will contribute to our exclusive upcoming AI 2026 Bismarck Strategic Report, which will feature in-depth analysis of the state of the artificial intelligence sector and technology, together with a comprehensive profile of key players. Upgrade or subscribe now to receive full access and never miss a report. quadrupeds.1 None of Unitree’s competitors, both U.S. and Chinese, have managed to sell anything like this quantity of robots—most have sold closer to 3000 robots in total. Unitree employs around 500 people, over one-third of them in R&D roles.2 Unitree intends to go public on the Shanghai stock exchange in 2026 at a valuation of around $6 billion.3
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