The quadruped robot market is splitting into two very different businesses.
Two kinds of demand
IDC’s Worldwide Quadruped Robot Market Share, 1H26 shows the global market passed US$400 million in the first half of 2026, up 95.4 per cent year on year, with shipments above 49,000 units, up 92.5 per cent. Education, research and home use drove about 60 per cent of units but under a third of revenue. Government, industrial and utility use took under 40 per cent of units but over two-thirds of revenue. The places that sell the most are not the places that earn the most.
Scale versus depth
Unitree wins on standardised, low-cost scale and global channels, holding the top revenue share at 13.8 per cent overall. But switch to industrial manufacturing and the order flips: Juwei (Juwei Technology) leads at 26.1 per cent, AgiBot at 18.5 per cent, Boston Dynamics at 9.9 per cent and Unitree at 7.1 per cent. In the first half of 2026, the industrial-manufacturing segment reached about US$76.75 million, up 194.2 per cent, with deployments above 4,100 units, up 537.9 per cent, far above the broader market.
Yiou Intelligence puts consumer units at RMB 5,000 to RMB 30,000, industrial at RMB 100,000 to RMB 300,000 and special-grade above RMB 500,000. The deeper the scene, the more the whole solution is worth. Hazardous sites, mines, chemical plants and power facilities pay for a capability that removes humans from risk, not for a product.
From hardware to capability
Frost & Sullivan expects the market to grow from RMB 2.3 billion in 2025 to RMB 53 billion in 2030, a compound rate near 87 per cent. As standard hardware gets cheaper, the value shifts to payloads, software, data and operations, and the model moves from one-off hardware sales to recurring service. The firm that wins may not top the shipment chart. It may be the one that reaches the hardest, most valuable sites first.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original OFweek report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://robot.ofweek.com/2026-10/ART-8321204-8420-30707321.html.