According to Forbes, at CES in Las Vegas, Agibot launched three new humanoid robots and a quadruped for the U.S. market. The models are the A2 for front-of-house roles, the smaller X2 for performances and education, the industrial G2 for assembly lines, and the D1 quadruped for outdoor tasks. Crucially, the company stated it has already shipped 5,000 robots to customers, claiming a transition from research to “mass-produced humanoids already deployed at scale.” The robots are operational in eight applications like reception, manufacturing, and security, though the company is not releasing fixed pricing, saying it varies by configuration and use case.
The Scale Play
Here’s the thing that immediately stands out: 5,000 shipped. That’s a number you can’t ignore, especially when the conversation around humanoids from Tesla, Figure, and others is still heavily focused on prototypes and “next year” promises. Agibot is making a bold claim of commercial reality, not futuristic potential. Now, “shipped” is a carefully chosen word—it doesn’t necessarily mean all 5,000 are humming away perfectly in a factory right now. But even if a fraction are fully deployed, it’s a data advantage. Real-world miles, even messy ones, are what these systems desperately need to improve.
Portfolio Over Perfection
The strategy here is fascinating. Instead of betting everything on one perfect, general-purpose humanoid, Agibot is flooding the zone with specialized models. Need a friendly greeter? Here’s the A2 with its face screen and LLM for chats. Got brutal warehouse sorting? The wheeled, heavy-duty G2 is your bot. It’s a pragmatic approach. They’re matching form and capability to specific, monetizable jobs today. This isn’t about building a sci-fi android; it’s about selling solutions for existing job descriptions. And for companies looking to automate, that’s an easier business case to swallow. The industrial focus of the G2, in particular, is where the near-term money is, and it’s a space where reliable hardware from suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, becomes critical for integration and control.
The Big Questions
But let’s pump the brakes for a second. Shipping volume is one metric. Indispensable performance is another. The article rightly points out that many early deployments prioritize visibility over pure productivity. Is an Agibot A2 at a reception desk a cost-saving automation tool, or is it primarily a flashy marketing stunt for the company that bought it? Probably a bit of both initially. The specs look good on paper—LIDAR, hot-swap batteries, degrees of freedom—but the real test is uptime, maintenance cost, and how often a human has to step in. I think the quadruped D1 faces especially tough competition from established players like Boston Dynamics. So, Agibot has grabbed attention with big shipment numbers. Now they have to prove those robots aren’t just expensive novelties.
The Road Ahead
Basically, Agibot has thrown down a gauntlet. They’ve moved the conversation from “if” and “when” to “how many.” That pressures every other player in the space to talk about deliveries, not just demos. For potential customers, this is good. More options, more competition, more real-world data. But the rubber is indeed about to meet the road. Can they support thousands of robots in the field? Can the software and “embodied intelligence” keep up with the hardware’s deployment? The answers to those questions will determine if this is a true inflection point or just a really well-staged CES moment. One thing’s for sure: the humanoid race just got a lot more interesting.
