China’s fast-developing humanoid robot market segment is seeing demand from enterprises gather speed, as prominent start-ups AgiBot and Unitree Robotics have landed orders totalling 124 million yuan (US$17.3 million) from state-owned China Mobile, the world’s largest telecommunications firm by number of subscribers.
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That order from China Mobile’s subsidiary in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, involves the supply of 78 million yuan worth of full-size humanoid robots from AgiBot and 46 million yuan in smaller machines – with computational capability and nimble-fingered hands – from Unitree, according to a notice from the telecoms network operator’s procurement and tender website in late June.
The deal with China Mobile – with about 1 billion mobile network customers and 320 million broadband business clients in the first quarter – covers a two-year period. The total number of humanoid robots to be supplied was not disclosed.
That transaction reflects how China’s government is helping supercharge demand for humanoid robots at state-owned enterprises, as a number of manufacturers aim for mass production this year.
“Humanoid robots are expected to become the next groundbreaking innovation – following computers, smartphones and new-energy vehicles – to profoundly transform human production and lifestyles, while reshaping the global industrial landscape,” the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in its 2023 guidelines.
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The director of China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Zhang Yuzhuo, last week visited Unitree’s facility in Hangzhou to learn how enterprises can “effectively gather innovative resources and stimulate vitality” in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics.