Todesbericht eines humanoiden Roboters: Wir haben sechs Hochrisikorichtungen identifiziert.

Humanoid robots, a field that has only become extremely popular this year, is actually experiencing a wave of closures?

This phenomenon is quite puzzling, but it is a fact. In the spring of 2025, multiple media outlets exposed problems such as "deserted offices", wage arrears, lay - offs, and debt collection by suppliers at various branch offices of CloudMinds Robotics. The company's capital chain and cash flow had broken.

This once - unicorn company, which had raised over 5.4 billion yuan in financing and was valued at over 10 billion yuan, ended up on the list of the first batch of failed companies.

Moreover, in October 2025, another startup founded just a few months ago, OneStar Robotics, was also reported to have disbanded. Even though it had the backing of a large enterprise (Geely) and had just completed hundreds of millions of yuan in financing, it still couldn't escape the fate of collapse.

In contrast, the phenomenon of closures abroad had already emerged between 2018 and 2019. For example, Anki (2019), Mayfield Robotics / Kuri (2018), and Embodied (2025).

However, at the same time, humanoid robots are also one of the hottest fields for financing this year.

According to statistics from multiple financial media, in the first five months of 2025, there were 114 financing events in the field of embodied intelligence/humanoid robots in China, with the amount and quantity comprehensively exceeding those of 2024.

Pencil News firmly believes in the prospects of the humanoid robot field, but also really wants to find out the reasons for the "wave of closures". So, it conducted research on cases at home and abroad and finally reached several conclusions.

1. Family companion/social robots. The market capacity is small, and their functions can easily be replaced by smart speakers and apps. This is a high - risk area for failure.

2. High - cost general - purpose humanoid robots: The technology is complex, the cost is high, the gross profit is low, there are few application scenarios, and there is a lack of clear orders. The market cannot support the price, and they are almost doomed to fail.

3. Start - ups overly dependent on the parent company: It is highly likely that the parent company will withdraw its investment or adjust its strategy. Enterprises are prone to losing their survival guarantee, making this a high - risk area for failure.

4. Products with high hardware costs and low added value: The functions are limited, the price is high, users do not repurchase, the cash flow is tight, and enterprises have difficulty sustaining themselves. This is a high - risk area for failure.

5. Research prototypes without application scenarios: This direction cannot achieve mass production and profitability and is prone to falling into a death trap.

6. All - around family service robots: The technology is complex, the R & D cost is high, the willingness of family users to pay is low, the gross profit is almost zero, and the demand for all - around functions is seriously overestimated. This is a high - risk area for failure.

Of course, the above conclusions have historical limitations: Just because it is the case now does not mean it will be the same in the future.

Failure Cases

The global humanoid robot industry has been booming in recent years. However, from 2024 to 2025, many leading and startup companies have either gone bankrupt or significantly downsized, reflecting a profound rift between "ideals and reality" and reminding the market that there is only a small but often fatal step from the "conceptual trend" to "commercial implementation".

First, there is the sudden "demise" of the Silicon Valley startup K - Scale.

This startup, founded in 2024, once attracted attention with its open - source strategy and "low - cost humanoid robots". It had received millions of dollars in seed - round financing, and its product prototype, K - Bot, was once touted as a general - purpose humanoid robot for the masses.

According to the official statement, the company officially announced its closure in November 2025 due to "failed financing, team disbandment, and exhausted cash flow". Pre - orders for humanoid robots were refunded, and the products could not be delivered.

Meanwhile, the established robot company Rethink Robotics went bankrupt for the second time in 2025.

Rethink was once well - known for its collaborative robots (cobots) and industrial robots. It was one of the few enterprises in the robot startup wave that entered the mass - production stage and was highly anticipated. After its restart, it launched a series of mobile robotic arms and AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots). However, due to lower - than - expected sales, the withdrawal of investors, and delayed product delivery, it finally had to shut down.

Let's also look at "companies that dabble in robots part - time". For example, Anki, which once focused on "intelligent robot toys and household intelligent hardware", declared bankruptcy in 2019, marking the failure of early consumer - grade robot commercialization.

The company had raised tens of millions of dollars in funds, and its products included interactive robots and smart cars. However, due to continuous difficulties in financing and low market acceptance, it ultimately failed to bridge the gap between "demonstration prototypes and consumer products".

These closure cases are concentrated in time. Since 2024, according to incomplete statistics, at least a dozen robot enterprises have exited the market. Analysts believe that the main reasons for their exit include: the extremely high threshold for robot R & D and production, the great difficulty in transitioning from prototype to mass production, few orders and real - money contracts, and the decreasing tolerance of capital for "high - valuation, low - revenue" situations.

We have summarized the typical cases as follows:

1. Anki

This consumer - grade robot company from Silicon Valley, which had raised over 200 million US dollars in financing, suddenly announced the cessation of its operations in April 2019. According to reports from multiple media outlets such as TechCrunch and Axios, Anki was still in talks with several potential investors for a new round of financing just one week before its closure. However, the key investment fell through at the last moment, and the company's cash flow immediately dried up. Approximately 200 employees were laid off, and only one - week's severance pay was issued.

Reason for exit: Consumer - grade companion robots are essentially "high - cost intelligent toys", and the market demand is insufficient to support continuous iteration and large - scale profitability.

2. Everyday Robots, a project under Alphabet

Everyday Robots, a "moonshot project" in Alphabet's X Lab, a general - purpose household/commercial service robot company, was officially shut down in 2023. Starting in 2022, Alphabet's overall advertising revenue slowed down, and it publicly warned several times to "improve efficiency and cut long - term investment projects". In January 2023, Alphabet announced the lay - off of approximately 12,000 employees, the largest - scale lay - off in the company's history.

Reason for exit: First, the cost is high. According to Wired, each robot costs tens of thousands of dollars, making sustainable commercialization difficult. Second, the product implementation is limited.

3. KScale Labs (KSL)

KScale Labs (KSL) announced its official liquidation and ceased operations in November 2025. They initially focused on "open - source + commercial parts" and low - cost humanoid robots and received approximately 4 million US dollars in seed - round financing in 2024. However, due to the failure of subsequent financing, the company's cash reserve in 2025 was only about 400,000 US dollars, which was insufficient to continue promoting mass production. At the same time, although its pre - sale price was low (ranging from approximately 2,999 to 8,999 US dollars)

Reason for exit: Failed financing, exhausted cash, combined with high costs, low gross profit, and intensified competition, led to the departure of core employees and the failure of acquisition attempts, making it impossible to continue operations.

4. Meka Robotics

Meka Robotics was founded in 2006 and focused on the R & D of "human - safe" and "compliant actuation" humanoid robots and mobile manipulation platforms (mobile manipulators). For example, its well - known product, Meka M1, is suitable for research or light - industrial environments where humans coexist or collaborate. In December 2013, Meka Robotics was acquired by Google X (later the laboratory under Alphabet Inc.).

Reason for exit: Difficulties in commercialization/implementation. The threshold for transitioning from research/prototype to large - scale, stable production and market - oriented application is extremely high and requires a large amount of resources and capital investment.

5. Schaft

Schaft is a bipedal robot company derived from the JSK Laboratory of the University of Tokyo in Japan. It was founded in 2012 and focused on highly flexible, humanoid/rescue - type robots. After being acquired by Alphabet in 2013, Schaft gradually faded out as an independent company. In 2017, Alphabet planned to sell it to SoftBank, but the transaction did not go through, and it was finally officially closed in 2018.

Reason for exit: The commercialization path is not clear. It is difficult for high - cost bipedal robots to find stable profit - making scenarios. The parent company's strategic adjustment led to a lower priority for high - risk hardware projects.

6. Kangli Youlan

Kangli Youlan is a service - type robot company invested in and established by Kangli Elevator. It received large - scale financing from 2014 to 2015 and launched educational, tour - guiding, and humanoid robot products. It was once regarded as a representative of domestic service robots. However, the company's performance did not meet the promised targets, and Kangli Elevator gradually reduced its equity stake, resulting in a decrease in investment and attention.

Reason for exit: Limited market demand, difficulties in commercialization, and the withdrawal of the parent company's investment.

7. Embodied

This AI companion robot company founded in the United States in 2016 ceased operations in December 2024 due to financial difficulties. Its core product, Moxie, an emotional companion robot for children aged 5 - 8, was once named "one of the best inventions of 2020" by Time magazine. However, with a single - unit price of approximately 800 US dollars, the high price led to lower - than - expected sales and a sharp decline in the user renewal rate. Finally, at a critical stage of financing, the leading investor withdrew, and the acquisition negotiation had to be aborted due to the depletion of funds.

Reason for exit: High product cost and unbalanced pricing, extremely low market acceptance, failure of key financing, and lack of competitiveness.

8. Mayfield Robotics / Kuri (USA, 2018)

Mayfield Robotics launched the household companion robot Kuri, which was exhibited at CES in 2017. From 2017 to 2018, the company encountered difficulties in mass production and market promotion. Kuri had a high cost, with a selling price of approximately 699 - 899 US dollars, and its functions had limited added value compared to smart speakers. In August 2018, Mayfield Robotics announced the cessation of its operations, closed its official website and customer service support, laid off approximately 50 employees, and failed to find a potential investor to take over.

Reason for exit: Difficulties in financing, making it impossible to continue development and mass production. Limited added value of the product.

9. Jibo

Jibo was founded in 2012 and was a pioneer in American household social robots. It was founded by Cynthia Breazeal with the goal of creating a household companion robot. However, with the popularization of smart speakers (such as Amazon Echo and Google Home), the demand for Jibo decreased. At the end of 2018, Jibo announced the closure of the company and the sale of its assets.

Reason for exit: The market scale of consumer - grade social robots is insufficient. High competitive pressure and the lack of sufficient added value of the product.

10. Aldebaran