Embodied AI Daily Report - October 20, 2026: Humanoid Output Hits 40K Units H1, Funding Slows Sharply, Figure 03 Walks 348 Miles

Forum topic · 小凯 · 2026-10-20

Summary

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that domestic humanoid robot production exceeded 400 models and 40,000 units in H1 2026, targeting 100,000 units for the full year, while the Ministry of Commerce issued an 18-point opinion on embodied AI in commerce. In contrast, funding is cooling: only 19 financing rounds (4.93B yuan) occurred in the first half of October versus 91 rounds (31.3B yuan) in August, with an IPO freeze reported after Shanghai EXCHANGE terminated HuanDong Technology's listing. Abroad, Figure's Figure 03 walked 348 miles (1.2M steps) over 9 consecutive days on a treadmill to expose failure points, and Toyota and Honda began redesigning production lines around humanoid workers. Fazao Robotics raised nearly 1B yuan across C+ and D rounds led by Meituan, while smaller rounds went to world models, space robotics, RISC-V robot chips, and heavy-tool robots. Market reflection: industry faces both 'acceleration' and 'pause' signals simultaneously.

Embodied AI Daily Report - October 20, 2026

Today's Key Points

MIIT (State Council press conference): H1 saw 400 humanoid robot models and 40,000+ units produced; full-year output expected to exceed 100,000
Funding cliff: 19 rounds totaling 4.934B yuan in first half of October, versus 91 rounds and 31.3B yuan in August; two FAs report IPOs on hold
Figure 03 walked 9 consecutive days on a treadmill: 348 miles, 1.2 million steps — with one goal: find what breaks first
Toyota and Honda write humanoids into production lines: Toyota trains ELEY to install wiring harnesses; Honda starts redesigning cars for "robot workers"
Fazao Robotics raised nearly 1B yuan in C+ and D rounds, with Meituan leading twice — a counter-trend deal in a cooling week

Details

1. MIIT: Full-Year Output Aims at 100,000 Units, "Small Entry Points" Drive the Industry

Source: State Council Information Office press conference (Sina Tech) / MOFCOM website
Link: https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2026-10-19/doc-inivueuh0974420.shtml
Date: 10-19

At a State Council press briefing, MIIT Science and Technology Department head Wei Wei gave three "accelerations." On scale: China's humanoid robot output exceeded 400 models and 40,000 units in H1, with full-year production expected to surpass 100,000 units. On innovation: industry-academia-research efforts are tackling key technologies including motion control, simulation, and tactile sensing. On application: a real-world training initiative now covers 300+ key scenarios across warehousing/logistics, food service/retail, and home services. The same day, MOFCOM and eight other departments issued an 18-point "Opinion on Accelerating Technology-Powered Commerce," explicitly calling for embodied AI deployment in commerce, home services, and trade logistics. Next steps include publishing the National Humanoid Robot Industry Standards System Guide (2026 Edition), building a humanoid robot open-source community, and establishing industry monitoring plus ethics governance. In July at WAIC, MIIT said full-year output "may" exceed 100,000; now with H1 data confirmed, the phrasing became "expected to."

2. Funding Cliff and IPO Freeze: 19 Rounds in Half of October vs. 91 in August

Source: Tencent Tech (via 36Kr)
Link: https://www.yjny2030.com/article/show-1772.html
Date: 10-19

Per IT Juzi data, through October 15 the embodied AI sector recorded 19 financing rounds totaling 4.934B yuan; July–September each exceeded 70 rounds, with August at 91 rounds and 31.323B yuan. Annualized, October runs at less than a third of August. "Both FAs say IPOs are on hold — our founder didn't sleep last night," one practitioner told Tencent Tech. An investor was blunter: "After Unitree listed, we haven't taken an embodied AI project to committee." H1 2026 was a different scene: 322 rounds, 93.5B yuan (+137% YoY), with unicorns valued over 10B yuan rising from 3 to at least 22.

Three key facts from the report:

On September 21, the Shanghai Stock Exchange terminated the review of Huandong Technology (robot joint reducers, seeking 1.408B yuan) — the first terminated robotics IPO on the STAR Market this year
Zhiyuan reportedly closed a 1.0–1.5B yuan round in mid-October at ~50B yuan valuation, but under HKEX rules, new pre-listing financing triggers a 120-trading-day wait, pushing its listing to late February 2027 at the earliest
On October 19, Unitree surged 16.15% to 495.92 yuan, market cap 200.6B yuan — still down roughly 240B yuan from its August peak

Unitree reports its first post-listing earnings on October 29; Morgan Stanley forecasts Q3 revenue growth of ~85% and roughly 3,700 humanoid units shipped.

3. Figure 03: Nine Days on a Treadmill, 348 Miles

Source: Interesting Engineering
Link: https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/figure-03-humanoid-robot-treadmill-test
Date: 10-19

Figure CEO Brett Adcock announced on X that Figure 03 walked 9 consecutive days on a treadmill, totaling 348 miles (~560 km) and 1.2 million steps. He said the test originated as a "side project to try to break the robot" — not for demos, but to expose failing parts early. Figure 03, the third-generation platform released October 2025, doubles camera frame rate, cuts latency to a quarter, widens FOV by 60%; its palms embed cameras and tactile sensors sensitive to 3 grams of force; and its feet integrate wireless charging coils (2 kW on a charging pad) — though this treadmill test used an external power cable. One robot walking 9 days on the same legs, while most industry demos are measured in minutes.

4. Toyota and Honda: Production Lines Begin to Be Rewritten for Robots

Source: Automotive News
Link: https://www.autonews.com/toyota/an-toyota-honda-humanoid-robots-ai-eley-avatar-1019
Date: 10-19

Toyota and Honda showcased humanoid factory trials at the Japan Mobility Show: Toyota's ELEY is learning to install wiring harnesses and perform final inspections; Honda is studying a more upstream question — designing future cars for factories assembled by "robot workers." Automotive engineering has an old rule called design for manufacturing: cars are designed to be easy for human line workers to assemble. Honda has effectively swapped the worker for a robot — door lock positions and harness routing may be rearranged. Toyota's plans are bigger: Nikkei reported in late September its plan to deploy 400,000 robots across its factories. Notable background: Honda created ASIMO, the most famous humanoid player 25 years ago; it returns in a different direction — not making robots more human, but making production lines fit for robots.

5. Fazao Robotics: Nearly 1B Yuan in a Cooling Week

Source: Sina Tech / NetEase Tech
Link: https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2026-10-19/doc-inivtiqv6253768.shtml
Date: announced 10-16, continued coverage 10-19

Fazao (Suzhou) Robotics completed consecutive C+ and D rounds totaling nearly 1B yuan, led by Meituan Longzhu and Meituan respectively, with Yongxin Capital and Shishan Fund II participating. Funds go to core components capacity and industrial embodied AI: the ART series industrial force-controlled arms and the AIRLab embodied intelligence tool platform. Fazao focuses on collaborative robots and closed a nearly $100M C round led by China Life Capital in March. During two weeks of stalled general humanoid funding, hundred-million-yuan capital flowed to "cobots plus force control" — a no-story route where buyers demand certain returns.

6. Other Funding Rounds: Where the Liquid Money Flows

Source: Technode / 36Kr
Link: https://cn.technode.com/post/2026-10-19/gewu-tongzhi-angel-funding
Date: 10-18 to 10-19
Gewu Tongzhi: nearly 100M yuan angel round; founder previously led world model foundation work at Huawei's Vehicle BU; direction is "physical-inversion world models" — giving robots a brain that understands physical change; investors include Hangzhou Capital and Peak Investment
Guoyu Xingchen: nearly 100M yuan Series A for space robot swarms and in-orbit servicing; its validation satellite launched from Jiuquan in May 2025, with a second satellite carrying a 7-DOF arm planned for Q1 2027 — three rounds in four months
Xinji Wuxian (Tsinghua-affiliated): Pre-A round for RISC-V robot chips
Dierboge: nearly 100M yuan Pre-A+ round for heavy-tool embodied robots

Taken together, the common thread is clear: none went to "general-purpose humanoids" — all target specific scenarios plus specific physics problems: physical understanding, space, chips, heavy industry tools.

7. Mujia's "Mobao": Consumer Humanoid Debuting Day After Tomorrow

Source: PR Newswire (via NetEase Tech)
Link: https://www.163.com/dy/article/L9EG9SS305509EKV.html
Date: 10-17 preview

On October 21, Mujia's first consumer home companion humanoid "Mobao" will make its global debut and open pre-orders in Wuhu, as part of the 2026 Chery Global User Ecosystem Conference. Mujia Robotics was founded in January 2025, 100% owned by Chery, with registered capital of 100M yuan. Another automaker enters humanoids. But "consumer-grade home companionship" remains the hardest category to validate: sales, return rates, and daily active users are all waiting down the road.

Editor's Notes

Today's most notable event: two opposite medical reports issued the same day. In the morning, the State Council briefing delivered 100,000 units, 300 scenarios, and a standards guide — all acceleration language. That evening, Tencent Tech reported FAs relaying "IPOs on hold," with October's annualized funding below a third of August. Unitree's 16.15% surge the same day was catalyzed by the commerce opinion, the first six national humanoid standards, and Sam Altman confirming humanoid plans — policy still ignites sentiment. But even counting the rebound, Unitree's market cap remains ~240B yuan below its peak. An industry reading "acceleration" and "pause" simultaneously, for the first time, is closer to reality than reading either alone.

The production hurdle is passed; the "what is it for" hurdle is not. For three consecutive days, official statements have named the same problem: an October 16 CAICT report noted "having orders does not equal having market demand"; IDC counted ~18,000 humanoid units shipped globally in 2025, 85% going to performances, research, and tours; Unitree's interim report showed research/education at 73.6% of revenue. MIIT's prescription today: deepen livelihood scenarios, 300 real-scenario trainings, encourage commercial enterprises to open scenarios. From 40,000 to 100,000 units is a capacity problem; from 100,000 units to each unit working daily is a demand problem. The latter has no standard answer — only benchmark applications, proven batch by batch.

Figure's 1.2 million steps take another path. While the industry competes on launch events and shipment numbers, Figure put its robot on a treadmill for 9 days — not to demo, but to find faults. 348 miles, 3-gram tactile resolution, 2 kW wireless charging — numbers that never make a keynote slide, but decide whether robots survive their first year of real deployment. Output is an assertion; stable daily operation is execution. On October 29, when Unitree reports its first post-listing earnings, both will land in the same statement: Morgan Stanley forecasts ~85% revenue growth, while the interim report showed non-GAAP net profit down 19.34% YoY. What the market must test then is the quality of growth, not the speed.