A Dexterous Hand Costs Nearly 100,000 Yuan! Humanoid Robot Industry Chain Faces Cost Reduction Bottleneck, Traditional Manufacturing Transformation Struggles with "Integration"

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(Source: Caixin)

In recent years, as competition in traditional industries such as industrial equipment and auto parts has intensified, companies urgently need to explore a second growth curve. The domestic replacement of core components for humanoid robots has become an important direction for traditional manufacturing companies to transform.

However, from the industry frontline, the technological accumulation of traditional manufacturing cannot be directly transferred to the humanoid robot field. At the same time, the high costs brought by the industry’s lack of large-scale mass production remain a bottleneck restricting industry implementation.

From March 11 to 13, the 3rd China Embodied Intelligence Robot Industry Conference and Exhibition was held in Hangzhou. Caixin reporters interviewed multiple humanoid robot component suppliers on-site, discussing the technical adaptation and cost reduction logic for traditional manufacturing companies entering the humanoid robot track.

It also tests the integration capabilities of traditional manufacturing enterprises more rigorously.

Currently, traditional manufacturing companies entering the humanoid robot track mainly come from industries such as auto parts, industrial reducers, precision materials, and electronics. These companies have many years of technical accumulation but face various challenges when shifting to humanoid robot component suppliers.

Quality Joint’s Joint Module

According to reports, Liangzhi Joint, with over 20 years of experience in planetary reducer R&D and manufacturing, previously supplied products mainly to industrial equipment companies. Now, it provides joint modules for humanoid robot manufacturers.

Zhang Hai (pseudonym), sales manager of Liangzhi Joint, told Caixin that the technology used in humanoid robot joints is simpler than that of reducers used in industrial equipment, but the integration requirements are higher. “Humanoid robot joints need to integrate motors, reducers, drives, and other accessories, requiring companies to have technical understanding of these components and emphasizing system integration capabilities.”

Automotive parts companies are the main players in the humanoid robot track and are also the most representative group for technology reuse.

Guolian Minsheng Securities research report shows that most listed companies currently involved in domestic humanoid robot component layout are auto parts companies, including Top Group, Junsheng Electronics, Dechang Motor Holdings, and Fuda Shares. This is because these two industries share high similarity in precision manufacturing and large-scale production capacity. However, differences in technical specifications and process requirements still create significant technical adaptation barriers.

Zhenyu Technology, whose products previously mainly served the automotive and new energy industries, has now entered the development of linear actuators and dexterous hand components for humanoid robots.

Zhenyu Technology’s Linear Actuator

R&D staff member Fang Xing (pseudonym) said that the underlying technology of humanoid robots is similar to that of the automotive industry, but there are many differences in details. For example, humanoid robot products focus more on power density ratio, response accuracy, and threefold overload capacity. The core is “releasing more energy in a smaller volume,” which is a hard requirement not found in automotive applications.

In addition, cross-industry companies in materials and electronics also face the challenge of reconstructing technical specifications.

Baosteel Silicon Steel developed a 0.1mm thick B20AHR-1 silicon steel sheet specifically for frameless torque motors used in humanoid robots. Compared to previous products supplied for automotive, drones, and electric bicycles, the new model emphasizes magnetic performance and iron loss, significantly increasing manufacturing difficulty.

Zhonghang Times, a neodymium-iron-boron magnet manufacturer, mainly supplies automotive motor suppliers like Sanhua Zhikong. Now, its products have entered the supply chain of humanoid robot manufacturers like Yunshenchu. The magnets used in their motors differ significantly in size and performance from automotive magnets, requiring re-formulation and process adjustments.

Fuyang Electronics entered the humanoid robot charging field from the electric vehicle charger sector. The latter’s requirements for safety standards, warranty periods, and charging protocols are much higher than those for electric vehicle chargers, necessitating new product designs and mold development. The heat generation issue in kilowatt-level wireless charging remains a technical bottleneck that industry has yet to overcome.

Cost Reduction of Components Depends on Downstream Technology Standardization

Caixin on-site learned that a humanoid robot requires 14–16 linear actuators, with each costing between 5,000 and 10,000 yuan; over 20 joint products are needed, with planetary reducer joints costing 60,000–80,000 yuan. Using harmonic drives could double the price.

Many interviewees stated that the main reason for the high production costs of humanoid robots is that downstream mainframe manufacturers’ technical routes are not yet standardized, and continuous product iteration prevents upstream mass production.

Zhang Hai said that current humanoid robot manufacturers’ technical solutions are still in flux, with products constantly updating, making large-scale production impossible. Only when component manufacturers achieve mass manufacturing can they gain cost advantages.

Fang Xing added that because the industry has not yet “scaled up,” most manufacturers currently do not use molds for component production, relying instead on machining, which is much more expensive than mold forming. Only when the industry reaches scale can mold replacement significantly reduce costs.

“Performance iteration of products does not equal cost iteration. Some core iteration needs of mainframe factories focus on cost reduction, but because application scenarios are not yet standardized and large model training is immature, humanoid robot deployment scenarios are very limited,” Fang Xing explained. For example, in industrial and mining enterprises, humanoid robots can only perform transportation functions, while fine operations like screwing are still in algorithm training development.

Dexterous Hand Product Poster

As the most valuable component of humanoid robots, dexterous hands are also expensive. According to product posters from Lingxin Dexterous Hands, the company currently has multiple models with over 20 degrees of freedom, with one model priced as high as 99,999 yuan.

A staff member from Lingxin Dexterous Hands said that the company previously purchased 100,000 tactile sensors, including electronic skin, with the electronic skin covering one dexterous hand valued at over 10,000 yuan.

The staff admitted that the high cost of core components makes it difficult to lower prices. The main clients for their high-end dexterous hands are research institutions, mainly for developing smaller and more aesthetically pleasing products based on existing designs.

Guolian Minsheng Securities research report pointed out that the current technical route for humanoid robot dexterous hands has not yet fully converged. There are multiple parallel technical routes in degrees of freedom design, drive systems, transmission methods, and sensing technologies, further increasing upstream supply chain uncertainty.

Additionally, the lack of industry standards and customized production significantly increase R&D and manufacturing costs.

The report revealed that different mainframe manufacturers have vastly different technical solutions. For example, in degrees of freedom design, there are fully driven and under-driven routes; transmission methods include cable drive, linkages, gear drives, etc.; drive systems vary between hollow cup motors and brushless geared motors, with no unified industry standard.

A staff member from Fuyang Electronics explained that customizing robot chargers for clients involves mold costs ranging from tens of thousands to over 200,000 yuan. Small batch custom orders cannot amortize mold development and R&D costs, resulting in robot charger prices of 200–300 yuan, far exceeding those for electric vehicle chargers.

Fang Xing said that once humanoid robot components are standardized, companies can select standardized parts from the market to assemble robots, greatly speeding up cost reduction.