Humanoid robot sales hit 7,000 worldwide last year

Roughly 7,000 humanoid robots were sold worldwide last year for industrial and professional service applications, according to new data compiled by the Frankfurt-based International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

The modest figure stands in sharp contrast to projections predicting a massive commercial boom in the coming years.

The gap is particularly notable in China—the world’s largest market for industrial robotics—which recently showcased humanoids running and boxing during specialized robot games.

Defining humanoids in a growing market

Under the IFR’s criteria, a machine is classified as “humanoid” if it features a human-like appearance and operates autonomously within environments engineered for humans; legs are not a strict prerequisite.

The IFR dataset provides one of the first industry-wide benchmarks for a sector attracting billions of dollars in venture capital and generating high-profile viral demonstrations.

The Secretary General of the IFR, Susanne Bieller, noted however that humanoids are a “tiny fraction” of the global robotics market.

By comparison, roughly 542,000 conventional industrial robots were installed globally in 2024, alongside an estimated 199,000 professional service units deployed across transportation, hospitality, and cleaning.

The IFR is scheduled to publish its full 2025 industrial and service robotics figures on September 24.

Early adoption centered on AI research and pilots

Bieller clarified that many of the humanoid units sold in 2025 were not carrying out actual manufacturing work, but were instead purchased by research institutions and technology firms to gather physical data for training advanced artificial intelligence models.

She noted that major automotive manufacturers—among the earliest commercial adopters of the technology—are currently testing humanoids in limited operational trials, typically deploying only single- or low-double-digit numbers of units per facility.

The Frankfurt-based IFR, which has published global automation statistics for three decades, began specifically tracking humanoid robots for the first time alongside its vastly larger datasets for standard industrial and professional service units.

Aggressive growth projections on the horizon

Despite current modest sales, future growth projections remain aggressive.

Bank of America Global Research estimates that humanoid robot shipments will reach 90,000 units this year and climb to 1.2 million by 2030.

The IFR bases its metrics on reported figures from global suppliers and national trade associations, explicitly excluding consumer and military humanoids, while categorizing medical robots under a separate classification.