Hangjiashuo Robotics
Recently, two automakers from China and Japan almost simultaneously announced their latest plans for humanoid robots, yet they took two completely opposite approaches. One is keeping its prototype hidden while waiting for the right application scenarios, while the other is sending its prototype directly into factories for iterative improvement during actual use.
Leapmotor: Prototype Completed, Rejecting "Demonstration Marketing"
On September 16, Leapmotor Technology officially announced its self-developed humanoid robot project at its Technology Day. The company stated that the prototype has been completed but will not perform walking demonstrations in public. The product will only be officially launched once a landing scenario with profit potential is identified.
Leapmotor estimates that the technological overlap between intelligent vehicles and humanoid robots in perception, decision-making, and execution exceeds 70%. The electric drive systems, domain controllers, and environmental perception algorithms accumulated through full-vehicle in-house R&D can all be transferred to robot development. However, the company also acknowledges a gap in operating conditions between the two: automobiles run on structured roads, whereas humanoid robots face unstructured real-world environments. There are still obvious technical bottlenecks in joint durability, six-axis force sensors, and whole-machine thermal management, meaning automotive manufacturing experience cannot be directly replicated.
There was an internal proposal to demonstrate the robot walking on-site at Technology Day, but it was vetoed by founder Zhu Jiangming. His attitude was straightforward: a robot that can just walk around is nothing to boast about; only a robot that can make money is worth showing off. Leapmotor will adopt a follow-up R&D strategy, control the scale of investment, and prioritize commercial returns over stage exposure.
Toyota: Prototype Enters Factory, Targeting Deployment of 400,000 Units
At almost the same time, Toyota Motor Corporation announced a large-scale robot deployment plan. The prototype of its ELEY embodied learning robot has been deployed in some production lines for practical operation training. In the future, the company plans to deploy approximately 400,000 similar robots in factories worldwide to achieve human-robot collaborative production.
This wheeled mobile robot weighs about 50 kg and is equipped with a two-finger robotic gripper. It can observe and learn workers' operations, gradually mastering factory tasks such as component transportation. Workers wear matching auxiliary tools to complete practical operations, while the robot simultaneously collects motion data to iterate its own capabilities. Toyota plans to gradually complete large-scale deployment starting in 2028, in conjunction with the renovation of its global factories.
Two Paces, One Industry Challenge
Both automakers are leveraging their accumulated experience in whole-vehicle manufacturing to enter the humanoid robot track, yet their pacing choices form a stark contrast: Leapmotor, holding a completed prototype, chooses to "stay put," making profitable scenarios a prerequisite for the product's debut; Toyota, on the other hand, sends its prototype directly into the production line, refining the product in a real industrial environment.
The humanoid robot industry is still in its early stages, with limited cases of truly large-scale commercial deployment. Finding profitable scenarios before launching versus throwing the prototype into a real production line for iterative improvement during use—both paths have their own logic, but they point in the same direction: humanoid robots must ultimately transition from performance exhibits to productive tools that create actual value. Competition in the track is gradually moving away from prototype showmanship, shifting towards a comprehensive contest of reliability, cost, and commercialization capabilities.
This article is compiled based on publicly available online information and is for reference only. It does not constitute investment advice.