China's new humanoid costs just €1,200
PLUS: The Nexus NX1 full-body rig, Germany's GEREON robot army, and a $150M surgery bot
Welcome back to your Robot Briefing
A Chinese startup just shattered the price barrier for humanoid robots, with Neotix Robotics selling Bumi at €1,200 — 80% cheaper than anything on the market and a fraction of Tesla's premium models. The catch? It's tiny, lacks hands, and can't do household chores.
But with 500 units sold in two days, is the real breakthrough making robots cheap enough for classrooms and hobbyists, even if they can't fold laundry?
In today's Robot update:
The €1,200 Humanoid
Snapshot: Chinese startup Neotix Robotics launched Bumi, a compact humanoid robot priced at just €1,200, making it the world's most affordable humanoid and potentially opening the technology to everyday consumers and educators.
Breakdown:
Takeaway: Bumi represents a shift in the humanoid robotics market from premium utility machines to accessible entry-level platforms. With 500 units sold in two days and plans to produce 1,000 monthly, Neotix is betting that affordability will unlock new markets in education and consumer robotics previously blocked by cost barriers.
The Full Body Robot Rig
Snapshot: 1HMX announced the Nexus NX1, the first integrated full-body system that combines haptic gloves, a 360-degree treadmill, and robotic shoes for teleoperation and AI training of humanoid robots.
Breakdown:
Takeaway: This system addresses a critical bottleneck in humanoid robotics by enabling humans to naturally control robots while generating high-quality training data for AI models. The integration of multiple immersive technologies into one package makes full-body teleoperation accessible to organizations that previously would have needed to source and integrate components separately.
The Robot Ground War
Snapshot: German defense-tech firm ARX Robotics secured a major contract to build several hundred GEREON unmanned ground systems in Ukraine, creating what will become the world's largest fleet of military ground robots operating as a unified network.
Breakdown:
Takeaway: This deployment represents a major shift in how modern militaries integrate autonomous ground systems at scale rather than treating them as experimental additions. The production localization model also demonstrates how defense technology partnerships can build domestic capabilities while meeting urgent operational needs.
Surgery's $150M Upgrade
Snapshot: Surgical robotics company Distalmotion raised $150 million in Series G funding to accelerate U. S. adoption of its DEXTER system, with a major focus on bringing robotic surgery to smaller ambulatory surgery centers.
Breakdown:
Takeaway: This funding signals growing investor confidence that surgical robotics can expand beyond large hospital systems into outpatient settings where cost and space constraints have limited adoption. DEXTER's approach of simplifying robotic surgery operations could open access for the estimated 60% of procedures now performed in ambulatory centers.
Other Top Robot Stories
UBTECH begins mass delivery of hundreds of Walker S2 humanoid robots across China with over 800 million yuan in confirmed orders, marking the world's first large-scale industrial deployment of full-size humanoids for manufacturers including BYD, Geely Auto, and Foxconn.
McKinsey forecasts large-scale humanoid robot use in construction could arrive within a decade as costs decline from today's range toward a feasible target, with robots initially handling tasks like wire pulling, debris cleanup, and drywall mounting before advancing to more complex roles.
Georgia deploys Farmbot agricultural robots in rural schools as part of a statewide computer science initiative, combining hands-on robotics education with agricultural technology to expand STEM opportunities for students in farming communities.
🤖 Your robotics thought for today:
What if robots freed us not just from work, but from the *pressure* to always be productive—what would you create then?
P.S. What's your take on this?
Until tomorrow,
Uli
