THE first humanoid robots factory in Shanghai, built by local startup Agibot, will start deliveries in October and ship 200 bipedal and 100 wheeled robots by the end of this year, Chinese media The Paper reported.

The plant has entered the final preparation stage for mass production, said Jiang Qingsong, vice president of marketing services and partner at Agibot. All production lines have been completed and are being set up accordingly, Jiang added.

Agibot released five new bipedal and wheeled commercial robots of the “Yuanzheng” and “Lingxi” series at a launch event Sunday. They cover various application scenarios, including interactive services, flexible smart manufacturing, special tasks, scientific research and education, and data collection.

“There will be small-scale production this October,” Jiang said. “The factory’s output will reach 100 units by November and more the month after.”

The newly unveiled models include the interactive service robot Yuanzheng A2, the flexible manufacturing robot Yuanzheng A2-W, the heavy-duty robot Yuanzheng A2-Max, the Lingxi X1 developed by Zhiyuan X-Lab, and the specialized data collection robot Lingxi X1-W.

Agibot will open-source Lingxi X1, a bipedal humanoid robot, in a full-stack manner. Core components like design schematics, software frameworks, middleware source code, and basic operational algorithms are all made freely available to developers.

During the launch, Agibot’s co-founder Peng Zhihui said his company is fully committed to pushing the boundaries of AI and robotics technology to explore more possibilities.

“We regard technological innovation as the core competitiveness of our company, and the commercial implementation of these innovations proves our value,” Peng said, adding that this year marks a milestone in the company’s short history as it sets about commercialization.

Peng previously worked at OPPO’s AI Lab and in Huawei’s Ascend AI chip and algorithm research team.

Established in the Lingang Special Area, a special economic space in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, in February last year, Agibot debuted its first universal humanoid robot prototype, the RAISE AI, six months later.

The company’s long-term vision includes developing a full-stack embodied intelligence system and entering the consumer market while Peng predicts that humanoid robots could be in homes within five to eight years.

Evaluated at over US$1 billion, the company has completed seven series of financing, attracting investments from major players like Hillhouse Capital, Matrix Partners China, and Baidu.

The Lingang Special Area provided great help in the early development of Agibot, including offering an excellent testing space for the robots’ interactive services, Jiang said. The pair will broaden their cooperation after the company’s products enter commercialization, Jiang said.(SD News)