Since the beginning of 2026, embodied intelligence has become one of the most frequently mentioned sectors. Financing news has been rolling in with figures in the hundreds of millions, and almost every day new companies are entering the public eye. 127 Financing Rounds, 44 Companies Going Global); on the Spring Festival Gala stage, robots are no longer merely showcasing technology, but have begun to perform alongside human actors, becoming part of the “cast.”
Author | Yiran Xing
From capital to public discourse, humanoid robots are experiencing an unprecedented wave of concentrated attention.
But on another, less discussed track, the pace of the industry appears much more restrained. In conversations with several industry practitioners, EqualOcean repeatedly heard a similar judgment: as humanoid robots begin to move out of the laboratory, the real question is no longer “can they be built,” but “can they be delivered reliably.”
01 Misalignment Beneath the Hype
This misalignment is not difficult to perceive.
After the Spring Festival Gala, some companies saw a noticeable surge in orders within a short period. Capital and market enthusiasm for robotics concepts continued to rise, and products received a large volume of orders as soon as they were launched. At the same time, however, constrained by supply chain limitations and insufficient whole-machine platform technology, delivery progress has lagged significantly, becoming a key bottleneck restricting commercial deployment.
This is why “building one robot” and “delivering ten thousand robots” are increasingly regarded by practitioners as two entirely different problems. The former belongs to technological validation, while the latter belongs to industrial capability.
At last week’s AWE event, Jiang Zheyuan (姜哲源), founder and chairman of Noetix Robotics (松延动力), completed the first batch delivery ceremony, officially delivering “Bumi” (小布米) into users’ hands. At this point, the “robot grandson” that appeared on the Spring Festival Gala stage has begun to enter ordinary households.
Image: Noetix Robotics (松延动力) product on the Spring Festival Gala stage
After the ceremony, we spoke with Jiang Zheyuan. As one of the companies that has already begun advancing large-scale delivery, his observations provide a more concrete perspective for understanding these issues.
02 Where Does Mass Production Actually Get Difficult
In most industries, scaling is usually understood as “expanding something that has already been proven feasible.” But in the field of humanoid robots, this logic does not fully apply. Moving from a single prototype to the delivery of thousands or tens of thousands is not a simple linear expansion.
First, given that humanoid robots often involve hundreds or even thousands of components, a shortage of just one key material can force the entire production line to halt. Second, when output increases from a few hundred units per month to several thousand, production line scale expands rapidly and the number of workers multiplies, bringing significantly greater management challenges. One practitioner told us that they had “seen workers hammer screws into places where they simply could not fit.”
In conversations with Jiang Zheyuan, he broke this process down into two key stages: product stability and manufacturing system capability.
He noted, “For humanoid robots to move from the lab to large-scale production, two major hurdles must be overcome. The first is product design. The product must undergo sufficient testing and validation, and iterative design before reaching a stable state. A movement that works once in a controlled environment does not mean it can be reliably reproduced across different users and scenarios. The second hurdle lies in production and supply chain issues during the scaling process, including production line management, whether there is sufficient management talent, and quality control in the supply chain—all of which require close attention.”
This is why, in the view of some practitioners, before humanoid robots truly enter the commercialization stage, what must first be addressed is not a single technological breakthrough, but a comprehensive strengthening of the entire industrial system capability.
03 The Real Bottleneck Is Not “Can’t Build,” but “Can’t Adapt”
If mass production is an issue of industrial capability, then at a deeper level, another more decisive challenge is emerging: whether robots possess sufficient generalization capability.
In public perception, the difficulty of humanoid robots often lies in “fine manipulation,” such as picking up a needle or handling objects delicately. However, in discussions with multiple practitioners, EqualOcean found that these are not the core obstacles.
In the interview with Jiang Zheyuan, he pointed out, “The real core bottleneck in the industry today is the lack of generalization capability. Robots today can complete specific tasks in specific scenarios, but once they enter unfamiliar environments, they often cannot continue working. This problem essentially stems from insufficient data scale and diversity.”
From a global perspective, China has certain first-mover advantages at this stage. In addition to long-term accumulation in supply chains, hardware talent, and manufacturing systems, China’s higher population density, richer life scenarios, and broader application environments provide a more diverse training ground for robots. Data from the real world will directly influence their subsequent generalization capability and adaptability.
Regarding the understanding of “barriers” in the industry, Jiang Zheyuan offered a pragmatic view: “So-called barriers are essentially time gaps. All technologies can eventually be equalized through hiring, talent poaching, or open-source approaches. Today we have advantages in motion control technology, supply chains, and mass delivery, which give us a time lead—but these are not insurmountable barriers.”
04 2026: The Industry Begins to “Submit Its Answers”
As technology, manufacturing, and data begin to converge, the humanoid robotics industry is entering a new phase. Jiang Zheyuan told EqualOcean (EqualOcean), “A scale of ten thousand units is a critical milestone for the humanoid robotics industry.”
This is not just a sales target, but a watershed moment. As more companies enter the field and capital continues to increase, 2026 is likely to become a year of accelerated differentiation. Once leading companies achieve large-scale delivery first, it signals that their product, supply chain, and organizational capabilities have formed an initial closed loop, and their advantages will quickly expand. Companies that have not yet completed capability building, however, face the risk of gradual marginalization.
Over a longer cycle, such differentiation is inevitable. When an industry moves from “demonstrating capability” to “delivering capability,” real competition has often only just begun.
Contact the Author
2026 marks a watershed from investment hype to commercial deployment for embodied intelligence, and going global is the testing ground of true capability. As embodied intelligence moves from Chinese laboratories to global factories, warehouses, farms, and households, this transformation—originating in AI and materializing in the physical world—will truly enter its second half.
Against this backdrop, EqualOcean will soon release the 2026 China Embodied Intelligence Global Expansion Panorama Report, focusing on overseas trends, key opportunities, and challenges in the embodied intelligence sector. By integrating cutting-edge industry insights and practical experience, the report aims to provide valuable references for practitioners and investors.
Stay tuned to our embodied intelligence series of articles and reports, and engage with us to explore new scenarios and possibilities in global expansion.
About EqualOcean
Since 2018, EqualOcean has been dedicated to tracking and analyzing the global expansion of Chinese enterprises. We welcome contributions from industry professionals to share your expertise and insights. Companies seeking international growth, media exposure, or discussions on overseas strategies are also encouraged to contact us directly.
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