Industry insiders observe that Chinese robotics companies aim to differentiate themselves from American rivals by embracing modularization. Instead of concentrating only on full humanoid robots, they focus on flexible designs, such as splitting the upper and lower body and creating modular parts like dexterous hands to boost adaptability.
At CES 2025, Chinese companies dominated the spotlight in the humanoid robots showcase, underscoring their ambition to influence the robotics industry. The varied strategies of these firms will significantly impact the market's evolution.
Taiwanese robotics supplier NextCOBOT Taiwan highlights two key trends shaping the robotics market's future: growing demand for small volume and customization and expanding applications beyond traditional industries. Consequently, standard robots like six-axis articulated models and humanoid robots might soon fall short of customer expectations.
Since 2025, Chinese robotics firms have seen a sharp rise in customer demand, prompting a shift toward lighter and more flexible components for diverse robotic setups. While humanoid robots showcased at CES 2025 captured public interest, commercial applications lag behind. Industry feedback questions the necessity of humanoid robots mimicking human form due to the absence of solid business models.
This uncertainty is driving innovation as many Chinese companies shift from focusing on complete humanoid robots to selling modular systems and components. This approach offers greater design flexibility, with some firms even marketing upper and lower body segments separately, indicating changing industry priorities.
In China's humanoid robotics sector, significant attention is being given to developing dexterous hands, which experts consider the final major challenge in the progression of automation.
To successfully commercialize humanoid robots, they need to precisely replicate the complexity of human hand movements. Current models, however, often use two-finger grippers with limited capability, typically featuring only six degrees of freedom, whereas replicating human hand functionality demands at least 20 degrees of freedom.
Future humanoid robots will require sophisticated sensors for position, force, and tactile feedback to enhance their real-world application. The evolution of multimodal sensing is vital in this regard, as achieving a balance between modular flexibility and high performance will be crucial in advancing humanoid robotics.
