Figure passes 10,000 deployments and Unitree wins IPO approval as humanoid robotics splits deployment from hype
Figure AI has surpassed 10,000 deployments across partner warehouses with Figure 03 in production at one robot per hour; AgiBot has hit 15,000 cumulative units; and Unitree won approval for a STAR Market IPO expected to value it above ¥100 billion (~$14.7 billion). Meanwhile Tesla's Optimus Gen3 line is built but running 'extremely slow' — the year's split between deployment and ambition.
The verified-deployment numbers are the real signal under the humanoid noise. Figure passing 10,000 deployments and AgiBot reaching 15,000 units are records of robots doing paid work in warehouses, not units promised. Figure 03 coming off the line at one robot per hour is a manufacturing rate, which is the metric that separates a company shipping from a company demoing.
Unitree's IPO approval marks the capital markets catching up to the deployment story. A STAR Market listing valued above ¥100 billion turns humanoid robotics from a venture bet into a publicly-priced industry, and it is a Chinese platform reaching that milestone — a reminder that the humanoid contest, like the open-weight one, has a strong center of gravity in China.
Tesla's Optimus Gen3 line — built at Fremont with a designed capacity of a million units but running 'extremely slow' for want of a mature supply chain — is the honest counterpoint. The gap between a line that can theoretically make a million robots and one actually making them is the gap between ambition and deployment, and 2026 is the year the field is being sorted by which side of it a company sits on.
Technology.org — Humanoid robots in 2026: what is actually deployed → · BigGo Finance — Humanoid robots on the eve of mass production: Tesla's Optimus line, Unitree's IPO →