(Yicai) July 15 -- AgiBot has launched a European partner platform in London, showing the Chinese startup's complete lineup of humanoid robots and highlighting its vigorous push into Europe.

Shanghai-based AgiBot also debuted a software tool platform tailored for partners and vigorously promoted the Robot-as-a-Service model at a recent launch event in the UK capital.

Outright buying robots is "extremely costly," but monthly subscription payment models lower the trial threshold for enterprise clients, several executives from AgiBot said. In addition, the company's interactive models can run not only on cloud servers but also locally on the robot's hardware to safeguard user privacy, they stressed.

Since launching European operations last October, AgiBot has placed sales agents in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and multiple Nordic countries, Sandy Liu, the company's European business representative, told Yicai.

The market development efforts of AgiBot's European sales team have yielded positive results, Liu said. Revenue generated by local partners will likely account for 8 percent of the company's total income this year, Liu pointed out.

Education and scientific research are the primary application scenarios for Agibot's products in Europe, with many university professors relying on humanoid robots for their research projects, Lui noted. The second major customer group is large enterprises, mainly in the auto and large warehouse logistics sectors, Liu added.

From the perspective of European partners, the competitiveness of Chinese robot makers extends far beyond hardware, Pau Bofi, chief technology officer of Airight Spot, the official distributor of AgiBot in Spain, said to Yicai. Chinese brands bring not only technology but also a complete ecosystem to Europe, he said, adding that they are also strongly advancing open-source robotics and artificial intelligence, representing the most critical development trend in the industry.

The British public's biggest concern in the past was whether robots would displace human workers, but such mass displacement has not materialized, Ben Lavell, founder of UK industrial tech service provider Concept Technology, which focuses on warehouse automation solutions for major retailers and logistics firms, told Yicai.

China's robot export topped CNY20 billion (USD3 billion) in the first five months of this year, reaching more than 150 countries and regions, with the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as core destinations, according to customs data.

Global humanoid robot shipments surged more than four times to about 13,000 units last year from the previous year, with the vast majority supplied by Chinese manufacturers, according to data from industry research institute Omdia.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev