The embodied-AI track shows a clear split between cooling capital and rising output, Financial World reported on November 3. IT Juzi data shows 33 funding rounds worth 10.105 billion yuan in October, down from 60 rounds and 11.028 billion yuan in September, as investors grow cautious about the "building robots" premium.
On the industrial side, the MIIT expects China's humanoid-robot output to surpass 100,000 units this year, after more than 400 models and over 40,000 units in the first half; commerce-ministry data shows key-platform embodied-robot sales rose 22.6% in the first three quarters. Zhiyuan reported nearly 2 billion yuan in first-half revenue, while Unitree posted nine-month revenue of 1.817 billion yuan with net profit up 270% — the yardstick is shifting from "can it be built" to "can it go to work."
Zhiyuan proposed the "Worken" metric — active robots times autonomous work time times output efficiency — arguing that ten thousand units shipped is a manufacturing win only if ten thousand can actually take jobs. The two leaders are racing deployment via different paths: Zhiyuan's full-stack layout across parks, factories and subways, and Unitree's mass-manufacturing scale for million-level demand.
Source: Financial World / NetEase
