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Your First Humanoid Robot Coworker Will Probably Be Chinese

Will Knight

created: Jan. 20, 2026, 11 a.m. | updated: Jan. 22, 2026, 6:59 p.m.

The 4-foot-tall humanoid robot that’s in front of me seems, quite honestly, a bit drunk. The convention center is teeming with humanoids—dancing ones, box-toting ones, robot dog-walking ones doing circuits around trade show booths. A Unitree humanoid robot modified for experimental purposes at the BAAI. Bank of America analysts predict that by 2035, robot makers will ship 10 million humanoids a year. With stats like that, one can’t help but suspect that the first country to have a million humanoids will be China.

2 weeks ago: WIRED