Chinese robot manufacturers: These names matter now

Why Chinese robot manufacturers need to be reassessed

The Chinese robotics market can no longer be assessed solely on the basis of classic 6-axis industrial robots. Alongside manufacturers such as ESTUN, SIASUN, Inovance, STEP, EFORT and GSK, providers have become established whose focus lies on collaborative robots, mobile manipulators, humanoid systems or more universal robotics platforms.

This also shifts the question of what is to be understood as an industrially relevant robot manufacturer. An ESTUN heavy-duty robot for a welding cell fulfills a fundamentally different task than a JAKA cobot, a Unitree quadruped for inspection tasks or a UBTECH Walker S2 for material handling.

For the manufacturer comparison, a classification into four groups is therefore useful:

• classic industrial robotics,

• collaborative robotics,

• humanoid robotics as well as

• mobile and embodied AI platforms.

Which classic Chinese robot manufacturers count?

• ESTUN is among the broadly positioned classic industrial robot providers. The company combines robotics with its own motion control, servo, PLC and encoder technology. The documented portfolio comprises 96 robot models with payloads from 3 to 1,200 kg. This means ESTUN covers a spectrum from smaller handling tasks to heavy-duty robotics.

• SIASUN is also considerably broader than a pure articulated robot manufacturer. The company offers industrial, mobile, and special robots as well as complete welding, assembly, and logistics systems. The international presence with structures including in Germany also makes SIASUN relevant for European projects.

• Inovance combines robotics with a particularly large automation portfolio. In addition to 6-axis, SCARA, and collaborative robots, the company develops PLC, servo, motors, precision mechanics, sensor technology, and machine vision. This system approach in particular can be relevant for machine builders.

• STEP also comes from drive and control technology. The company has its own servo, drive-control, and robot-controller technology. One focus is on general industry, palletizing, and welding.

• EFORT positions itself among other things in heavy-duty, welding, painting, and automotive applications. GSK, in turn, is of particular interest for machine tool automation due to the combination of CNC controls, servo drives, servo motors, and robots.

These manufacturers are the ones most comparable to established international industrial robotics. Metrics such as payload, reach, repeatability, path performance, controller, safety functions, and integration capability can be compared here relatively directly.

How strong are Chinese cobot manufacturers?

In collaborative robots, the field of Chinese suppliers becomes significantly larger. In addition to JAKA, ESTUN, Inovance, and STEP, Dobot, AUBO, and ROKAE in particular are among the manufacturers that can be considered for industrial applications.

JAKA focuses strongly on collaborative robotics. The company states that more than 20,000 robots have been deployed, has over 300 distribution partners, and sales in more than 100 countries and regions. With the Zu series, the verified offering extends up to a 30 kg payload (Zu30). Germany is among the explicitly named branch locations.

Dobot was founded in 2015 and has expanded its offering from compact robots into a broad cobot portfolio. According to the manufacturer, more than 100,000 collaborative robots have been sold in over 100 countries and regions. The company states payloads across its overall portfolio from 0.25 to 30 kg.

For industrial applications, the portfolio includes, among others, the CRA family. The CR20A, for example, achieves a payload of 20 kg and a working radius of 1,700 mm. Dobot cites, among others, picking, packaging, palletizing and welding in automotive, the home appliance industry, logistics and metal processing as fields of application.

Also interesting is the strategic expansion of the portfolio: Dobot now includes, alongside its cobots, humanoid systems such as DOBOT ATOM as well as the X-Trainer system for robotics data and training. The company is thus moving from a classic cobot provider toward a broader intelligent robotics platform.

AUBO is also clearly focused on collaborative robotics. The company, founded in 2015, offers several cobot families as well as mobile collaborative systems. According to the manufacturer, the classic i-series covers payloads from 3 to 20 kg. The newer iS series extends in the published models up to 35 kg.

AUBO cites a presence in more than 50 countries and regions as well as after-sales structures including in Germany and the USA. The portfolio addresses 3C, automotive, semiconductors, mechanical engineering and other industrial applications.

ROKAE forms a bridge between classical industrial robotics and cobots. In addition to industrial robots, the company offers the xMate-CR series. According to the manufacturer, the current product line extends up to a payload of 45 kg and a working radius of 2,246 mm. The platform uses the self-developed xCore control system and combines force and position control.

This means Chinese cobot manufacturers are now no longer positioned exclusively in the area of small payloads. Models with 20, 30, 35 or even 45 kg expand the possible fields of application toward machine tending, palletizing and heavier handling.

What distinguishes Unitree from classical industrial robots?

Unitree occupies a special position within the comparison. The company does not focus primarily on stationary 6-axis industrial robots, but on humanoid and quadruped robotics, robot arms as well as the associated components and development platforms. Unitree explicitly describes A2, B2, B1 and AlienGo as robotic systems for industrial applications. In addition, there are humanoid systems such as H1, H2, G1 and R1 as well as robot arms.

The B2 shows where quadruped robotics differs from conventional industrial robots. The robot is designed for mobile tasks and, according to the manufacturer, is intended to be able to walk with a continuous load of more than 40 kg. As applications, Unitree mentions, among other things, power plant and industrial inspection as well as operations in difficult terrain. The newer A2 is equipped with LiDAR, camera, interchangeable batteries and an optional wheel-leg configuration. Unitree names logistics, industrial inspection and rescue as fields of application.

At the same time, Unitree is expanding the humanoid portfolio. The H1 is a humanoid robot around 1.8 m tall with 3D LiDAR and depth camera. The G1 is significantly more compact and, depending on the version, has 23 to 43 joint degrees of freedom. 

For industry, however, what is particularly interesting is less the pure mechanics than the development toward a data and training platform. With G1-D, Unitree offers an end-to-end platform for data collection, processing, labeling, model training and inference. It is intended to support various humanoid applications and development processes. The G1-D variant is a wheel-driven humanoid robot with 17 to 19 degrees of freedom (without end effector), which was presented in November 2025.

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How far along is UBTECH with humanoid industrial robots?

UBTECH is pursuing a humanoid approach that is much more clearly geared toward concrete factory applications.

With Walker S, Walker S1 and Walker S2, the company has its own product family for industrial applications. The Walker S2 was presented in 2025 and, according to the company, went into series production and delivery in November 2025.

According to UBTECH, the robot can handle loads of up to 15 kg and operates within a vertical working range of 0 to 1.8 m. Particularly striking is the autonomous battery system: according to the manufacturer, Walker S2 can replace its own battery within three minutes and is thus designed for more continuous operation.

However, the applications are decisive for the industrial classification. UBTECH cites material handling, PLC sorting, quality inspection, screwing, assembly, and process material handling. According to the company, the Walker-S series has already been used or tested in manufacturing environments of companies such as BYD, NIO, Foxconn, and SANY.

In the business report for 2025, UBTECH describes handling, sorting, and quality inspection in particular as central industrial workstations for Walker S2.

This is how UBTECH differs from many humanoid companies whose systems are primarily research, development, or demonstration platforms. The manufacturer is explicitly trying to integrate the humanoids into real production and logistics processes.

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What role do AgiBot and new platform providers play?

AgiBot belongs to the next group of Chinese providers: companies in which humanoid or embodied robotics has been conceived from the outset as a more universal platform.

With the Genie G1, for example, AgiBot combines a mobile base with a humanoid upper body. According to the manufacturer, the system has 20 degrees of freedom without an end effector, six-axis force sensing, multiple cameras, and a computing platform based on Nvidia Jetson AGX Orin. The company cites industry, retail, and household environments as areas of application.

For the industrial evaluation, the platform concept is decisive. AgiBot emphasizes native data collection via teleoperation and the recording of complete joint data. The robot is thus positioned not only as a finished automation product, but at the same time as a tool for training and further development of robotic capabilities.

RealMan also pursues a platform approach. In addition to robot arms and mobile systems, the company offers complete solutions for data collection and training of humanoid or embodied systems.

According to the manufacturer, the data-collection solution includes hardware, software platform, data collection, annotation, quality assurance and data management. RealBot systems and teleoperation solutions, among others, are used as hardware.

This approach is relevant for industry insofar as a new part of the robotics market is no longer defined solely through hardware. Data, teleoperation, simulation environments, model training and the transfer of learned capabilities to different robot platforms are becoming additional distinguishing features.