Humanoid Robotics and AI Commercialization Accelerate Across Sectors
Tesla’s Optimus Humanoid Robot Achieves New Milestone: Running in the Lab
Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot, also known as Project Groot, demonstrated a significant leap in mobility by successfully running in a new video released by the company on December 3, 2025. The video, shared by CEO Elon Musk on social media, showed the robot jogging steadily across a lab floor, with the team claiming a “new personal record” (PR) for the machine.
This achievement highlights considerable improvements in the robot’s balance, coordination, and gait control, moving beyond earlier public demonstrations that primarily focused on controlled walking, object handling, and posture training. The ability to run is a key indicator of the robot’s enhanced dynamic stability and overall physical intelligence.
The development aligns with Tesla’s ambitious timeline for the project. The company previously announced that a trial production line had begun operating at the Fremont factory in early November, with plans for a larger-scale, third-generation production line to be completed and operational in 2026. The target cost for each humanoid robot after mass production is projected to be around $20,000.
Elon Musk has repeatedly expressed a grand vision for Optimus, suggesting that the robot could revolutionize the global economy, potentially making traditional work optional and contributing to the eradication of poverty through AI-driven abundance. The company’s focus remains on scaling production and refining the robot’s AI capabilities to perform a wide range of general-purpose tasks.
Robotis Unveils ‘AI Worker’ Humanoid at Japan’s iREX Exhibition
South Korean robotics company Robotis, backed by LG Electronics, is making a strategic push into the global humanoid market by showcasing its “AI Worker” at the International Robot Exhibition (iREX) in Tokyo, which opened on December 3, 2025. The company’s focus is on demonstrating its “Physical AI” technology, which enables the robot to make autonomous judgments and perform necessary tasks beyond predetermined logic.
The AI Worker is a domestically produced working humanoid robot already undergoing demonstrations in various real-world fields. Its primary applications are centered on logistics and manufacturing automation, including the handling of irregular objects. The robot is also utilized as a platform for imitation learning and reinforcement learning research.
Robotis’s participation in the iREX exhibition is part of a broader strategy to expand its presence in key global markets, notably the United States and China. The company has already established practical collaborations, including the delivery of the AI Worker to LG Electronics for research purposes in May, and specific cooperative relationships with major logistics and retail firms such as CJ Korea Express and BGF Retail.
The company also gained international attention for supplying its Dynamixel actuator, which acts as the robot’s joints, to the ALOHA Project, further solidifying its reputation as a provider of core technology in the physical AI domain. The emergence of physical AI, where artificial intelligence is combined with machines to interact with the physical world, has been a major topic in the industry following high-profile projects and endorsements from tech leaders.
UBTECH’s Walker S Humanoid Robot Deployed in Automated Vertical Farming
In a significant move demonstrating the versatility of humanoid robotics, Agroz Inc. announced the launch of Agroz Robotics in collaboration with UBTECH Robotics on December 3, 2025. This partnership will integrate UBTECH’s industrial humanoid robot, the ‘Walker S,’ into Agroz OS, the company’s proprietary farm operating system, for use in controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) vertical farms.
The integration of the Walker S as a hardware platform is designed to automate crucial agricultural processes. These automated tasks are expected to include seeding, crop monitoring, harvesting, and overall crop optimization. The goal of this next-generation autonomous farming system is to substantially boost productivity, reduce reliance on human labor, and ensure more precise and consistent crop quality within the vertical farming environment.
UBTECH’s Walker S is known for its industrial capabilities, having been the first publicly known humanoid robot to be deployed as part of a coordinated team in a complex, real-world industrial setting at an EV manufacturer’s factory. The robot is also noted for being the world’s first humanoid robot capable of autonomously changing its own batteries, a feature that potentially enables uninterrupted, 24-hour operation.
The deployment into the agriculture technology sector signals a broadening of the commercial application landscape for humanoid robots, moving beyond traditional manufacturing and logistics into specialized, high-tech environments like CEA.
Chinese Humanoid Robot Firms Dominate 2025 Contract Landscape
The commercialization of humanoid robotics in China is showing a marked acceleration, with a trio of domestic giants reportedly seizing the majority of disclosed large contracts for 2025. Ubtech, Unitree Robotics, and AgiBot have collectively secured 60% of the large orders, according to industry analysis.
While the Chinese humanoid robotics sector has not yet reached a stage of true mass deployment, this concentration of contracts among key players indicates a significant shift toward commercial implementation. This momentum is supported by a robust domestic hardware manufacturing base and supply chain, which allows for the rapid and cost-effective scaling of production once the technology matures.
The Shanghai-based AgiBot, for example, previously signed a multi-million yuan deal to deploy approximately 100 of its Expedition A2-W humanoid robots in a manufacturing plant, a contract widely considered a worldwide milestone for the large-scale commercial deployment of embodied intelligent robots in the industrial sector. Unitree Robotics has also been at the forefront, with their more affordable models entering the consumer and research markets early.
The increasing contract volume suggests the industry is officially transitioning from the validation stage to a new era of commercial implementation, with Chinese firms leveraging their manufacturing advantages to drive real-world training and deployment.
Miroki Humanoid Robots Enter UK Healthcare for Patient Support and Logistics
The application of humanoid robotics is expanding into the healthcare sector, with plans announced for the Miroki robots to feature prominently at the Digital Health Rewired 2026 event. This comes as the robots, developed by Enchanted Tools, are being deployed in a collaboration between Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) and King’s College London in the United Kingdom.
The initial deployment at GSTT, which is the first hospital site in the UK to use this technology, focuses on logistics support. This includes tasks such as reception wayfinding and transporting items from the pharmacy to wards or directly to patients. The use of the robots is intended to support both patients and clinical staff.
Beyond logistics, the Miroki robot is specifically designed to reduce anxiety in young patients and improve their cooperation during treatment sessions. In a previous world-first, the Miroki was officially authorized to accompany children inside radiotherapy rooms during treatment sessions in France in September 2025.
Early use cases from the GSTT deployment will be discussed at the Rewired 2026 event in March, providing an update on the adoption of humanoid robotics within the NHS and the broader lessons learned from the power of partnerships between healthcare institutions and universities. The long-term plan is to expand the robots’ role to include more personalized, patient-facing interactions throughout the treatment journey.