THE NEXT BATTLE IN HUMANOID ROBOTICS MAY NOT BE ABOUT STRENGTH.
It may be about whether people actually want to live around these machines.
A robot that looks, talks and behaves naturally is solving a completely different problem from a robot that can simply lift 50 kg.
Because eventually these machines won’t stay inside factories.
They’ll be in stores, hotels, airports, homes and entertainment venues.
And America has a surprisingly small head start here:
Goldman Sachs estimates there were only hundreds of humanoid robots in the U.S. in 2025, versus roughly 10,000-15,000 in China.
That makes public-facing robots more important than they look.
Every interaction teaches companies what people accept, what feels strange and what makes someone want to come back.
The money is potentially huge.
Goldman Sachs estimates the global humanoid market could reach $38 billion by 2035, with about 1.4 million annual shipments.