Report on the "Death" of Humanoid Robots: We've Identified Six High-Risk Areas
Humanoid robots, a sector that has only become extremely popular this year, is actually experiencing a wave of closures?
This phenomenon is quite puzzling, but it's a fact. In the spring of 2025, multiple media outlets reported that CloudMinds Robotics' branch offices in various locations were "empty," with issues such as salary arrears, lay - offs, and suppliers demanding payment. 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.
In addition, in October 2025, OneStar Robotics, a startup that had only been established for a few months, 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 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, the humanoid robot sector is also one of the hottest areas 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 number comprehensively exceeding those of 2024.
Pencil News firmly believes in the prospects of the humanoid robot sector. However, it also really wants to find out the reasons for the "wave of closures." So, it conducted research on domestic and foreign cases and finally reached several conclusions.
1. Home 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, there is a lack of clear orders, and the market cannot support the price. 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 it 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 don't repurchase, the cash flow is tight, and it's difficult for enterprises to sustain themselves. This is a high - risk area for failure.
5. Research prototypes lacking application scenarios: This direction cannot achieve mass production and profitability and is prone to falling into a death trap.
6. All - around home service robots: The technology is complex, the R & D cost is high, home users are willing to pay very little, 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: What is the case now doesn't 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 "ideal" and "reality." It also reminds the market that there is only one step from the "conceptual hype" to "commercial implementation," which is often unnoticeable but fatal.
First, there was 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 products couldn't be delivered.
Meanwhile, the veteran 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, investors withdrawing their funds, and product delivery delays, it finally had to shut down.
Let's also look at "companies that dabbled in robots part - time." For example, Anki, which once focused on "intelligent robot toys and home 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 finally couldn't bridge the gap between the "demonstration prototype" and the "consumer product."
These bankruptcy 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 moving from prototype to mass production, few orders and real - money contracts, and the decreasing tolerance of capital for "high - valuation, low - revenue" situations.
We've summarized the typical cases as follows:
1. Anki
This consumer - grade robot company from Silicon Valley, which had raised over $200 million in financing, suddenly announced the cessation of its operations in April 2019. According to reports from multiple media such as TechCrunch and Axios, Anki was still in talks with several potential investors for a new round of financing a week before its bankruptcy. However, the key investment fell through at the last moment, and the company's cash flow immediately dried up. About 200 employees were laid off all at once, and they were only given one - week's severance pay.
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 home/commercial service robot company, officially shut down in 2023. Since 2022, Alphabet's overall advertising revenue has slowed down, and it has publicly warned several times to "improve efficiency and cut long - term investment projects." In January 2023, Alphabet announced the lay - off of about 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 closure in November 2025. They initially focused on "open - source + commercial parts" and low - cost humanoid robots and received about $4 million in seed - round financing in 2024. However, due to the failure of subsequent financing, the company's cash reserve was only about $400,000 in 2025, which was insufficient to continue promoting mass production. Meanwhile, although its pre - sale price was low (ranging from about $2,999 to $8,999)
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 famous product, Meka M1, was suitable for research or light - industrial environments where humans coexisted or collaborated. 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 moving 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, a bipedal robot company derived from the JSK Laboratory at the University of Tokyo in Japan, was founded in 2012 and focused on highly flexible, humanoid/rescue 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 deal didn't go through, and it finally closed in 2018.
Reason for exit: The commercialization path was unclear. It was difficult to find stable profit - making scenarios for high - cost bipedal robots. The parent company adjusted its strategy, and the priority of high - risk hardware projects decreased.
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 failed to meet the promised targets, and Kangli Elevator gradually reduced its equity stake, with a decrease in investment and attention.
Reason for exit: Limited market demand, difficulties in commercialization, and the parent company's withdrawal of investment.
7. Embodied
This AI companion robot company, founded in the United States in 2016, closed its operations in December 2024 due to financial difficulties. Its core product was Moxie, an emotional companion robot for children aged 5 - 8, which was once named "one of the best inventions of 2020" by Time magazine. However, the single - unit price of Moxie was about $800, and 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 lead investor withdrew, and the acquisition negotiation had to be aborted due to the depletion of funds.
Reason for exit: High product cost, unbalanced pricing, extremely low market acceptance, failed key financing, and lack of competitiveness.
8. Mayfield Robotics / Kuri (USA, 2018)
Mayfield Robotics launched the home 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 high costs, with a selling price of about $699 - $899, 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 about 50 employees, and failed to find an acquirer.
Reason for exit: Difficulties in financing, making it impossible to continue development and mass production, and limited product added value.
9. Jibo
Jibo, founded in 2012, was a pioneer in home social robots in the United States, founded by Cynthia Breazeal with the goal of creating home companion robots. 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, the competition pressure is high, and the products lack sufficient added value.
10. Aldebaran
