Unitree sets the volume benchmark while Western units stay in the hundreds
Unitree ships more humanoids than any Western competitor at roughly a tenth of the price, following 5,500-plus shipments in 2025 and targeting 10,000 to 20,000 units this year. Figure 03 has passed 1,000 units at about one robot per hour, with BMW logistics expansion continuing.
The order-of-magnitude price gap is doing more work than the unit counts. A platform at a tenth of the price is not competing for the same purchase decision — it is competing for research labs, universities and integrators who would otherwise build nothing, and that is how ecosystems get seeded.
One robot per hour is the more meaningful Figure number, because a rate can be extrapolated and a cumulative total cannot. It also concedes something useful: an hour per unit is assembly, not manufacturing, and the gap between those two words is most of the distance to volume.
Unit counts remain the least informative metric in this sector, which is exactly why they are quoted. Deployment duration, task breadth and intervention rate would tell you far more, exist internally at every one of these companies, and are essentially never published.
Technology.org — Humanoid robots in 2026: what is actually deployed → · AgiBot — AgiBot reaches 10,000 units → · Interesting Engineering — The humanoid robot reality check →