China builds the body, US the brain: humanoid robot race splits
A TechNews report says China's humanoid robotics industry now accounts for most global component and complete-unit shipments, with Shanghai's AgiBot and Hangzhou's Unitree expanding their influence, while Beijing has made humanoids and embodied intelligence a priority development area. It adds that the US retains an edge in robot "brains" and frontier models: Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 can directly control a robot body, Figure AI's Figure 02 is working in a BMW plant in the US, and Boston Dynamics plans to scale Atlas production and factory deployments. The piece argues the race is splitting into a division of labor, and that as humanoids move from demos to factories and logistics, the ability to integrate hardware, software and real-world data will decide the next round of AI competition.
If the split between Chinese hardware and US models persists, supply chains and robot foundation models together will determine who gets humanoids into real factory and logistics work first.