Shenzhen-based AI² Robotics says it is now mass-producing and shipping AlphaBot 2, its wheeled humanoid robot, to customers. Instead of walking on legs, the robot rolls on a wheeled base and works with two arms, a design aimed at real industrial jobs. It is already finding its way into different industries. HKC has signed a three-year agreement covering more than 1,000 robots for display manufacturing, Dongfeng Liuzhou is using it for material handling and loading and unloading in automotive production, and robot-run retail kiosks are making and serving drinks directly to consumers.

In the second half of 2026, the company also kicked off a new production line targeting tens of thousands of units, according to its own claims. That would be a big jump from the roughly 1,000 robots a year its first factory was built to produce, so the plan is ambitious. The company's message is that building the hardware is not the hard part; what matters is how tightly deployment and mass production are linked, which brings the business back to its basics. Key questions remain, including whether it can deliver at that scale, how the robots hold up in day-to-day factory work, and what customers will actually pay.