While Tesla and Musk’s Optimus robot snatches airtime, China is making leaps in the humanoid race, leading to a rally in the sector’s shares. The Solactive China Humanoid Robotics Index rose 60 per cent from the start of last year to its peak in October,

Two-legged robots have a tendency to fall over and "need human intervention to get back up," like tortoises fallen on their backs. Because they're heavy and unstable, they are "currently unsafe for humans to be close to when they are walking."

For several decades, Boston Dynamics has pioneered the development of advanced robots, including humanoids and four-legged systems tested by the military as a way to carry supplies over rough terrain. The company was sold to Google in 2013 and bought by SoftBank in 2017. In 2021, Hyundai acquired a controlling stake.

Chinese company Agibot showed up with two: the human-sized A2 and the slightly smaller X2, both of which were displaying their surprisingly impressive dancing abilities.

Agibot just released a robot dog, a factory-worker humanoid robot on wheels, a "white-collar" humanoid robot for reception-like duties, and a playful dancing robot.

Chinese humanoid robot makers will dominate CES 2026, with nearly a dozen firms and a record Hong Kong delegation showcasing next-gen machines.

At CES 2026, SwitchBot is using the onero H1 concept robot to make a clear statement about where it thinks smart homes are headed. Specifically, it's focusing less on adding another gadget and more on introducing a system that can actually do things.

Qualcomm kicked off the show Monday morning by announcing a full suite of robotics technologies, designed to power everything from small household robots to full-sized humanoids. It's calling this full-stack architecture, which integrates hardware, software and AI, the Dragonwing IQ10 Series.