Behind the Myth of Getting Rich through Robot Leasing: Fanaticism, Intense Competition, and Chinese-Style Sobriety

Under the spotlight, Lei Yonglin (known as "Little Brother Lei" in the industry) is sharing his entrepreneurial story of "earning 200,000 yuan a month with a single robot".

He wears a black felt hat, a well - tailored suit, and holds a microphone in his hand. His excitement is evident in his tone. Outside the venue, rows of "versatile" humanoid robots are also busy. Some are playing the drums, some are singing Peking Opera, some are performing cross - talks in long gowns, and some are demonstrating calligraphy. In comparison, the dancing robots that have been popular for over half a year seem a bit too ordinary.

Simply put, this is a story of ordinary people seizing an opportunity to change their fates.

In February this year, Unitree Robotics' robots performed the yangge dance on the Spring Festival Gala, and its founder, Wang Xingxing, attended a symposium for private enterprises with Ren Zhengfei, Lei Jun and others. Overnight, humanoid robots were thrust into the public eye.

At the end of February, Little Brother Lei, a post - 90s entrepreneur, bought his first robot in life - a high - end Unitree G1 worth 300,000 yuan. He casually filmed an unboxing video: the over - thirty - five - kilogram "iron lump" stood up on its own. "It was like a puppet had been injected with life, transforming from a pile of mud into a steel warrior that could walk when powered on."

The video went viral overnight. This robot, which he named "Benben" and walked unsteadily, instantly became a "steel employee" rented out at 8,000 yuan a day. From science and technology teaching to store promotion, he recovered his cost in just over a month. After that, media reports poured in, and more and more people flocked into the industry.

However, beneath the boom, the situation has been changing.

In his eight - minute speech, Little Brother Lei shared his mindset transformation from an industry pioneer to a promoter and also talked about his prediction of the industry's transition from the dividend period to a future competitive market. However, the media reports simplified as "the cooling of the rental market" and his more tortuous low - point experiences were just briefly mentioned.

After communicating with Little Brother Lei, we found that in the past eight months, his life has been like a roller - coaster ride, experiencing the frenzy of traffic and the ups and downs of the industry. As the tide receded and speculators left, those who remained began to think about what long - termism means.

This is not only a turning point in an individual's fate but also an art of compromise that the entire humanoid robot industry has achieved between ideal and reality - before the technology is perfect, let humanoid robots "survive" in the Chinese business environment first.

01 From a Daily Rental of 10,000 yuan to a Halved Price, Is the Disenchantment of Robots Beginning?

As a fan of "Iron Man", Little Brother Lei has always had a sci - fi dream.

He has been in the luxury car rental business for more than a decade. However, in recent years, the depreciation of new energy vehicles has accelerated, and the price war in the industry has intensified. The business has become more difficult than ever. At the end of last year, when he saw the cool videos of Unitree robots doing backflips and dancing, he realized that this new and not - yet - popular thing might hide huge business opportunities.

So, he decided to invest 300,000 yuan to buy one for a trial. For the rental business, this amount is just the cost of a good car.

Unexpectedly, Unitree ignited the entire robot industry, and the gears of Little Brother Lei's fate started to turn with sparks.

At the end of February, Little Brother Lei posted a video. In March and April, he took the robot "Benben" to Inner Mongolia in the north, Xinjiang in the west and Hainan in the south, traveling across China. He took the robot to weddings, commercial performances, science and technology festivals, and even the rural football championships in small towns.

▲ The picture shows Little Brother Lei taking the robot to the "Village BA" in Guizhou for a demonstration.

The media followed and filmed, and local TV stations reported. His phone kept ringing.

At that time, the word "hot" was far from enough to describe the madness of the market - robots were in short supply. Peers had to borrow from each other, and there were so many customers that they even accepted group bookings. At the most exaggerated time, a single robot had to rush to three shows a day, in the morning, afternoon and evening, and "it could only be in the same city, as there was no time for cross - city shows".

▲ The price quote mentioned by Little Brother Lei during an interview at that time.

"I have also played a certain role in promoting this industry. Many of my peers entered the industry after watching my videos." He said with pride, but soon, this pride was tinged with a bit of bitterness. "In the end, even I couldn't place an order. I had to buy at a high price."

Due to the market frenzy and the shortage of robots, the official price of the Unitree G1 EDU version was speculatively driven up from 169,000 yuan to 250,000 yuan, and the price of the U2 model soared from 209,000 yuan to nearly 300,000 yuan, and all were futures.

At the end of April, Little Brother Lei placed an order for three Unitree G1s at a 50% markup at the peak. He calculated that as long as each robot was rented out for about ten times, he could recover the cost.

The future seemed bright, and everyone was going all out.

During the May Day holiday, the popular period was like the last carnival, pushing the heat to the peak. Little Brother Lei's robots were fully booked, and the daily rental price of a single robot soared to 10,000 yuan.

However, after the holiday, the order volume dropped sharply. "The attendance rate might be less than 30%." He joined more than a dozen 500 - person peer groups and found that most people were in the same situation as him. Even worse, the traffic and attention of the videos he posted on social platforms also began to decline simultaneously.

Has the general public lost their fascination with robots? Little Brother Lei wasn't sure.

In June, a group of peers couldn't hold on and started to leave the market at a low price. By August, another wave of people chose to quit. The traffic came and went like the wind, and the media began to report that "humanoid robots couldn't be rented out". The daily rental price of the most popular G1 dropped from 8,000 - 15,000 yuan to 5,000 - 8,000 yuan.

▲ The latest rental price quote of a merchant on the e - commerce platform.

Little Brother Lei really felt the chill. He stopped buying new robots and only gradually replaced his basic - version models with advanced - version ones to maintain competitiveness in the cooling market.

However, in sharp contrast to the rapid cooling of the rental market, the capital market is having a booming feast. Investors are looking everywhere for "the next Unitree". Leading robot companies such as Unitree, Leju and Zhiyuan have launched their IPOs around the same time; robot manufacturers keep announcing large - scale orders and sending robots to factories for "internships" to show their commercial potential.

02 How Can Robot Rental "Survive"?

The industry's frenzy has receded like a tide, but the market has not disappeared. It has just revealed its inherent ups and downs. Although the robot rental industry has not completed a full - year cycle, Little Brother Lei clearly feels that this industry has peak and off - peak seasons.

Since September, with the launch of various exhibitions, science and technology festivals and campus activities, the market has witnessed a wave of recovery.

Little Brother Lei's business has become active again. He can receive about ten orders per month on average, "almost one order every two or three days". He roughly estimated that the first three robots should have recovered their costs.

Different from the frenzy in the first half of the year, as more players enter the industry and the competition intensifies, the average rental price per show of a single robot has dropped from the peak to about 5,000 yuan and can even be pushed down to 3,000 yuan. At the same time, customers' requirements have also increased.

Currently, the most common rental scenarios are concentrated in six categories: school science and technology festivals, corporate exhibitions, banquet receptions, research and study activities, media stages and shopping mall performances.

▲ A robot is performing a sugar - coated haws show at an exhibition.

The common feature of these scenarios is that they need a "technological gimmick", something that can make people take out their phones to shoot videos. The performance ability of robots has become the strongest competitive edge.

To stand out in the competition, rental companies must provide more value. The initial requirement of "just being able to move" can no longer satisfy customers. Now they need customized dances and even expect robots to "do real work". "The general venue rental is four or five thousand yuan, and the customized dance development starts at 10,000 yuan." Little Brother Lei said. However, the budget is usually limited, and most people still choose from the existing mature dance libraries.

Facing the diversified demands, different robot brands present a clear hierarchical pattern in the market.

The Unitree G1 is still the most mainstream model - stable, all - around, capable of dancing and having conversations, widely recognized by customers, and is the current "all - around player". However, its height of 1.3 meters becomes a shortcoming in scenarios where a "tall and imposing" image is required.

Zhiyuan Robotics has formed a differentiated competition with its first - mover advantage in large AI models. Its newly released X2 model directly competes with the Unitree G1, excelling in interactive conversation ability.

Little Brother Lei mentioned that Zhiyuan's platform allows users to choreograph dances for robots in a "fool - proof" way, while Unitree still relies on professional third - parties, which is a significant improvement in convenience. He placed an order for Zhiyuan's robots in September and is waiting for them to arrive.

The Zhongqing robots are tall and mainly focus on dancing. However, what troubles him is that "they cannot be well - folded in design, and large boxes are required. They cannot be transported by plane or high - speed rail and can only be transported by car."

▲ From left to right are the Unitree G1, Zhiyuan X2 and Zhongqing PM01.

The Zhongqing robot that Little Brother Lei ordered in February didn't arrive until October. "By the time it arrived, the popularity had faded."

In terms of price, Unitree has been pressured to a relatively low level due to its scale advantage, while other brands have high costs due to low production volume, which is an awkward situation. Little Brother Lei once contacted an American customer. The customer clearly didn't want Unitree due to the general environment, but other brands "have low production volume, few models, mediocre performance and higher prices", and finally the order couldn't be completed.

Meanwhile, the entire industry is moving from the early wild - west stage towards standardization and ecological development.

Lang Tian, the co - founder of Silicon - based Park, told us that as one of the operators with the most rental brands in the country, they provide "all - inclusive" services - from customized development, motion capture to teaching demonstrations, solving problems in one - stop.