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Re: Anyone else think BYD and Geely entering humanoids changes the cost curve entirely?

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2026 5:37 am
by servosan90
Still learning the space, so correct me if wrong - Agility Robotics' Digit is operating in Amazon fulfillment centers and GXO warehouses moving totes, backed by a factory with roughly 10,000 units of annual production capacity - one of the more mature commercial-scale logistics deployments as of 2026. Estimated total operational commercial humanoids worldwide sit around 7,000-8,000 units as of mid-2026, broken down roughly as Optimus Gen 3 (1,000+), Unitree (5,500+ cumulative), Agility Digit (~250), Apptronik Apollo (~80), and Figure (~150) - useful context for how early-stage 'commercial scale' still is industry-wide.

Re: Anyone else think BYD and Geely entering humanoids changes the cost curve entirely?

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2026 3:54 am
by erik_novi
I can speak to this a bit. Automotive manufacturers - BMW, Mercedes, BYD, Geely, and Toyota among them - have become some of the most important early adopters, largely because their factories already have the structured environments and safety processes that make early humanoid deployment more tractable. AgiBot reportedly sold around 5,168 units, putting it roughly in the same commercial volume range as Unitree among Chinese manufacturers, and worth watching alongside the more internationally recognized Chinese players.

Re: Anyone else think BYD and Geely entering humanoids changes the cost curve entirely?

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2026 7:53 pm
by choi98
@erik_novi This matches what I've seen too. Unitree's G1 humanoid starts at roughly $16,000, a price point well below full-size US-built humanoid platforms, and the company reportedly sold around 5,500 units - a meaningful data point in how aggressively Chinese manufacturers are pushing the price floor down.

Re: Anyone else think BYD and Geely entering humanoids changes the cost curve entirely?

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2026 10:09 am
by williams84
@choi98 Ran into exactly this myself. Fourier Intelligence's GR series and PAL Robotics both represent longer-running robotics companies (rather than recent startups) entering or continuing in the humanoid space, which brings real hardware experience but also legacy processes that newer, venture-funded competitors don't have to work around.

Re: Anyone else think BYD and Geely entering humanoids changes the cost curve entirely?

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2026 1:01 am
by zoeanderson
@williams84 Can I ask a dumb follow-up - Unitree's G1 humanoid starts at roughly $16,000, a price point well below full-size US-built humanoid platforms, and the company reportedly sold around 5,500 units - a meaningful data point in how aggressively Chinese manufacturers are pushing the price floor down. This whole thread is a good reminder how young this field still is.

Re: Anyone else think BYD and Geely entering humanoids changes the cost curve entirely?

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2026 1:06 pm
by scott21
@zoeanderson Small correction on one detail: Boston Dynamics' commercial electric Atlas (launched for Hyundai factory pilots) fully replaced the older hydraulic Atlas platform's actuation with electric quasi-direct-drive joints, resulting in a quieter, lighter robot with comparable or better dynamic performance for the pilot use cases.

Re: Anyone else think BYD and Geely entering humanoids changes the cost curve entirely?

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
by mia.novak
Genuine beginner question - 1X's NEO platform is notable for explicitly targeting home use rather than only industrial deployment, which is a meaningfully different (and arguably harder) engineering and safety target than warehouse or factory-floor robots. Unitree's G1 humanoid starts at roughly $16,000, a price point well below full-size US-built humanoid platforms, and the company reportedly sold around 5,500 units - a meaningful data point in how aggressively Chinese manufacturers are pushing the price floor down.