Shanghai’s Agibot is a company that’s getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason. Co-founded by some bright minds from Huawei’s ‘Genius Youth’ program, Agibot is setting its sights high with a goal to produce up to 5,000 humanoid robots this year. They’re directly eyeing the production plans of Elon Musk’s Tesla Optimus project. Quite a bold move, don’t you think?
Also known as Zhiyuan Robotics, Agibot is planning to deliver somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 robots by 2025. That’s a big jump from the less than 1,000 units they shipped last year. Yao Maoqing, one of Agibot’s partners and the president of its embodied intelligence unit, sees this as part of a larger trend. Many Chinese robotics companies are racing to expand in a rapidly growing domestic market.
Government data backs this up, showing a 27% year-on-year increase in industrial robot production, hitting 91,088 units by February. Service robots have also seen a 36% rise, totaling 1.5 million units. Founded in 2023, Agibot has quickly carved out a significant space in Shanghai’s robotics scene, with a facility in the Lingang New Area. They’ve also got plans for a new plant in the Pudong district to boost their production to over 400 robots a month.
Yao shared with the South China Morning Post, “This year, we aim to deploy new products in industrial scenarios, replacing humans in specific tasks to create tangible customer value.” However, he also believes that it might take about five more years before humanoid robots become common in our homes.
Agibot’s co-founder, Peng Zhihui, is a former member of Huawei’s esteemed ‘Genius Youth’ program, a recognition for top young talents in China. Alongside entrepreneurs like Wang Xingxing of Unitree Robotics, Peng is helping push China towards a leading role in the global robotics industry.
With experience in the autonomous-driving sector from roles at Google’s Waymo and Chinese EV maker Nio, Yao points out China’s strategic advantages in humanoid robotics. These include a strong hardware supply chain and a wealth of artificial intelligence expertise.
