Chinese humanoid robot deployment

In late July 2026 Chinese electric‑vehicle maker BYD disclosed details of a new humanoid sales‑assistant robot, Xiao Di, in a brief social‑media post that was quickly removed. The robot, standing 160 cm tall and weighing 59 kg, features 31 degrees of freedom, high‑precision object handling, 360° vision, real‑time 3D modelling, and multilingual speech capabilities. BYD intends to place two to three units in each dealership to greet customers, demonstrate vehicles, answer queries, and eventually assist on production lines.

Two days later, Chinese robotics startup LimX Dynamics announced a pre‑IPO financing round that raised roughly $2 billion, valuing the firm at about 150 billion yuan. LimX, which produces the no‑code controllable humanoid "Luna," reported thousands of orders, mainly for overseas customers, and said it had already shipped hundreds of units. The announcement coincided with BYD’s plan to unveil Xiao Di in early August and roll it out nationwide over the next one to two years. Both companies’ moves reflect a broader surge of investment and development in China’s humanoid robot sector, with other automakers such as XPeng, Chery and FAW also piloting similar platforms for sales and manufacturing applications.