(Yicai) Dec. 9 -- AgiBot has reached another major production milestone with its 5,000th general-purpose intelligent robot, marking a shift for the Chinese humanoid robotics startup from small batch manufacturing to mass production.

The robot came off the production line in Shanghai yesterday. Most Chinese robotics firms have made between 500 and 1,000 units each, with only a few exceeding the 1,000 mark, Yicai found. AgiBot turned out its 1,000th earlier this year.

The achievement underscores how humanoid robots are starting to move from being novelties and prototypes toward real commercial use across various sectors in China.

“Five thousand units isn’t just a number, it's a key threshold that must be crossed in industrial production,” Wang Chuang, partner and senior vice president at AgiBot and president of its embodied business division, told Yicai. It signals both mature usage scenarios for AgiBot’s robots and the arrival of scale economies that significantly cut production costs, Wang added.

So far, the Shanghai-based firm’s products have mainly been used for guided tours in places such as museums, exhibition hall presentations, customer service, and entertainment.

As production ramped up, AgiBot’s supply chain, production uniformity, quality controls, and line yields were all rigorously tested, helping the company firm up its product standards, Wang pointed out.

In addition, the range of clients and uses for the robots widened as orders rose, Wang said, adding that by helping users solve problems, AgiBot finds new uses and in some cases refines product specifications in collaboration with customers.

“For example, we initially positioned one of our robots as an indoor device, but after receiving feedback from many customers who expressed a desire to use it outdoors on sunny days, we adjusted its features to include 5G signal compatibility as a standard,” Wang said.

This year, AgiBot has secured orders from China Mobile, one of the country's three big mobile phone operators, Longcheer Technology, an original design manufacturer of consumer electronics, Joyson Electronic, an auto electronic components maker, Fulin Precision, a car parts supplier, and others.

“Mass production is just the starting point,” Wang said. The real challenge comes after delivery, whether the company's robots can continue to be used in specific scenarios, "rather than just participating in a one-time event or completing a demonstration," he added.

The next competitive frontier for the industry will center on two areas: improving fundamental robotic capabilities, and building ecosystems for ongoing development and broader application deployment, according to Wang.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev