Global humanoid robot sales reach 7,000 as industry awaits boom

Around 7,000 humanoid robots were sold globally last year for industrial and professional service applications, according to figures compiled by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). The tally offers one of the first industry-wide measures of a technology that is drawing billions of dollars in investment and generating increasingly elaborate demonstrations.

The figure is modest when set against the broader robotics market. Roughly 542,000 conventional industrial robots were installed in 2024, and an estimated 199,000 service robots were sold that year for tasks such as transport, hospitality and cleaning. Updated 2025 data for both categories is due on September 24.

Under the IFR's criteria, a humanoid must have a human-like appearance and operate autonomously in an environment designed for people. Legs are not a requirement.

Susanne Bieller, secretary general of the Frankfurt-based federation, said humanoids still account for only "a fraction" of the global robot population. Many of the units sold in 2025 were not performing productive work, she noted, but were purchased by research institutions or companies seeking to generate data for training AI models.

Carmakers, among the earliest adopters, are running pilots with "single-digit or sometimes double-digit numbers of robots in their plants," Bieller said.

The IFR has compiled robotics statistics for three decades and has now begun collecting humanoid data alongside its larger industrial and service robot datasets for the first time. The figures exclude consumer and military humanoids, while medical robots are classified separately.

The relatively small sales number contrasts with forecasts of rapid growth, particularly in China, the world's largest market for industrial robots, which last month showcased humanoid running and boxing at its robot games. Bank of America Global Research estimates that 90,000 humanoid robots will be shipped this year and 1.2 million by 2030.