Half the robot models, a quarter of the money

The Week in Behind Robotics, 2026-W42 (12–17 Oct 2026)

Intro

China makes half the robot models on the market. Strip out Waymo's $16B round and it takes about a quarter of 2026 robotics capital. That gap is why we built the behindrobotics Robotics Scoreboard, which went live this week. It ranks who is actually selling and deploying robots, straight from our database, and it recalculates every Wednesday.

CIIF in Shanghai (12–16 Oct) told the same story. Chinese arms massaged, sorted and shifted boxes on the floor, while a well-funded German humanoid hung still on its frame. It felt like the EV decade starting over. Chinese wall-finishing robots and a US-listed $2,490 humanoid built by Chinese OEMs point the same way.

The capital tape had its own story. TEKEVER printed US$580M of equity at a US$6.4B valuation, and Waymo took its first US$5B of debt. Astribot re-rated to RMB 15B in the same week Yinghe heads to creditors. Sensofusion listed as a profitable counter-UAS company.

Start with our own week.

This week on behindrobotics

1) The Robotics Scoreboard is live

Open the scoreboard · Capital tab

The scoreboard ranks who is actually selling and deploying robots, using live data from the behindrobotics.com database. It has three tabs: Shipping leaders, Capital 2026 and Deployment figures. You can filter by region and sector, and a "How we count" box explains the method. Data is as of 14 Oct 2026 and updates every Wednesday.

• 181 robot models in market (selling or deployed), out of 258 active models tracked. 95 companies are ranked and 70 have a model on sale.
• China accounts for 49% of in-market models (89 of 181). The US has 26% (47) and Europe 15% (27).
• Shipping leaders by number of robot models in market: Unitree 17, AgiBot 14, Anduril 14, EngineAI 5, UBTECH 5. Four of the top five are Chinese.
• Capital 2026: $39.5B, counting the latest disclosed 2026 round of 333 companies. With Waymo included, the US takes 67% ($26.4B), China 14% ($5.59B) and Europe 13% ($5.17B).

Without Waymo, China takes a quarter of the money. And half the robots. Take out Waymo's $16B equity round (2 Feb 2026) and $23.5B is left across 332 companies. The US has $10.41B (44%) and China $5.56B (24%). Germany has $1.79B, about 78% of it NEURA. The UK has $1.42B, Canada $1.02B, and Portugal $580M, which is TEKEVER alone.

How we count: the scoreboard counts robot models, not units. Capital means each company's latest disclosed round dated 2026, one row per company. Waymo's $16B in February was equity. Its US$5B term loan this month is debt and is not part of the capital tab.

2) CIIF 2026: same movie, new machines

We filmed the robotics show at CIIF 2026 in Shanghai (12–16 Oct). The fair had more than 3,000 exhibitors overall and 349 in the robotics show. Hall 7.1 belonged to Chinese makers. Hall 8.1 held ABB, FANUC, KUKA and Yaskawa, plus a humanoid zone.

• FAIRINO had an arm giving massages. Its FR5 launched at a guidance price of ¥23,800. A US dealer lists the FR5 at $7,999 next to a UR5e at $38,363, so about a fifth of the price (behindrobotics calc).
• MOKA arms worked a parts cell, UBTECH's wheeled robot shifted boxes, and humanoids from Unitree and LEJU were moving.
• NEURA announced a Series C of up to $1.4B in June, with the full amount tied to milestones. Its 4NE-1 humanoid stood still on its frame during our visit. That was one booth on one afternoon, not a verdict on NEURA's engineering.
• The data agrees with the floor. Chinese makers took 57% of China's industrial-robot market in 2024, up from about 28% a decade earlier (IFR). Unitree's STAR Market prospectus puts its 2025 humanoid shipments at 5,511.

Our editorial draws three lessons, from DiDi, bike-share and EVs, and asks whether foreign robot firms will find out too late that "better engineered" is not a business model.

Read: Same movie, new machines: robotics is the EV rout all over again → Read on hive
Watch: X · LinkedIn

Companion piece: Those who deliver, win. In 2025, three Chinese makers shipped about 4 in 5 of the world's roughly 14,400 humanoids: Unitree 5,511 (STAR prospectus), AgiBot 5,168 (Omdia estimate) and UBTECH 1,079 (HKEX filing). The world total and the ~82% share are behindrobotics calculations. Figure is valued at $39B and has published no 2025 unit total.
→ Read on hive
Already live on LinkedIn: the post

3) China is putting robots on apartment walls

Our Short this week looks at three Chinese wall-finishing machines that spray putty and paint, so fewer workers breathe the dust:

• Fangshi JPD433D: sprays and scrapes putty, sands, then sprays latex paint. It reaches about 3.3 m. The company claims it is 3–5× faster than manual work and saves 90%+ on labour cost.
• Legend Robot: about 130 m²/h for putty and 230 m²/h for latex paint, with >95% coverage (company figures).
• DaFang DF062: works up to 6 m high and handles four processes in one machine: grind, skim, sand, paint (company materials).

All of these figures are company claims. The real test is not how good the spray looks on camera. It is how fast these fleets leave the demo floor.

Watch: X · LinkedIn

4) Tesla made a Roadster fly, on SpaceX-derived cold gas

At the Tesla Roadster event at SpaceX's McGregor, Texas site (15–16 Oct), the car drove on a ramp, flipped and flew on cold-gas jets. The numbers come from the company or from reporting:

• 10 cold-gas nozzles, ~600 L of compressed gas across carbon-overwrapped pressure vessels, up to ~10,000 PSI. Source: Tesla engineering VP Lars Moravy, via Hagerty and Wired.
• Rear thrust of >80 kN and about 2G of suction downforce from multi-mode fans (company claims).
• 0–60 in about 0.81 s live at the event (reported). Top speed claim 230+ mph.
• Three trims: Performance, Thrust and the invite-only Rocket. Production target 2028. The Rocket trim is not approved for public roads.

The tanks, nozzles and caveats are real, and deliveries are still two years out.

Watch: X · LinkedIn

5) FF Nova at $2,490: a humanoid, or a stock story?

Faraday Future delivered about 16 FF 91s by mid-2025 (Autoweek). On 15 Oct it launched FF Nova, a walking humanoid priced at $2,490, plus $390 for a skills package. The company lists 20 degrees of freedom, LiDAR and depth vision. The invite phase covers 100 units, with the first 20 ready now. FF Nova Mini costs $299. "First US humanoid under $2,500" is the company's own claim.

What the filings say: Faraday Future's own risk language cites "reliance on Chinese OEMs for all of its robotics products" and a single OEM for most of them, along with tariff and import-ban exposure. So the robot carries a US-listed brand, while the parent's filings say Chinese contract manufacturers build it.

What the market says: - On 12 Oct, three days before the launch, FF EAI Robotics (FFR) signed an all-stock deal. It values Faraday Future's robotics business at ~$200M and FFR at ~$60M, at $2.246 per share. After closing (targeted end of October), FFAI would own ~65.7% of FFR. - FFAI fell 23.34% to $0.83 on launch day and closed around $0.81 on 16 Oct. Its market cap was about $4.84M, down 97.77% year on year, after a 1-for-150 reverse split on 24 Jul 2026.

The question for retail investors is ours, not a finding. Is this a developer robot business, or a low-cost Chinese-built device carrying the robotics story for a US microcap? The filings back up the OEM sourcing. They do not say whether Nova is a rebadged existing Chinese product, and we don't claim it is.

Watch: X (posted on X only)

Number of the week

US$580M: TEKEVER's Series D first close at a US$6.4B valuation. It was announced 23 Sep 2026 and logged in our research this week.

It is the largest single equity print in this week's research. TEKEVER is also Portugal's entire line on the scoreboard's ex-Waymo capital ranking. It has nothing to do with Waymo's US$5B term loan, which is debt.

Profile: TEKEVER on behindrobotics · PR · confirmed

Top stories (capital tape)

TEKEVER raises US$580M at US$6.4B

The Portuguese defense and ISR drone maker closed a US$580M Series D first close led by UC Investments and Baillie Gifford. British Army CORVUS work worth up to £400M sits alongside the raise.
Why it matters: Europe rarely sees private drone rounds above $500M. This one brings valuation and sovereign demand together.
TEKEVER on behindrobotics · TEKEVER AR5 · confirmed

Waymo's first debt: a US$5B term loan

Eight months after a US$16B equity round at a $126B valuation, Waymo closed a US$5B term loan on 8 Oct 2026. The lenders are PIMCO, Blackstone and Sixth Street, with Goldman as bookrunner.
Why it matters: Robotaxi fleets are starting to borrow like infrastructure, and the debt has to be repaid from rides. It is debt, so it stays off the equity scoreboard.
Waymo on behindrobotics · PR · confirmed

Sensofusion lists on Nasdaq Helsinki (~EUR 259M)

The Finnish counter-UAS maker listed as SENSO. Media report a gross share issue of about EUR 259M. IPO materials show revenue of about €49.4M and EBIT of about €30.1M, with 111 people.
Why it matters: Counter-UAS companies rarely debut profitable. Defense-drone software and hardware companies now have a public comparable.
Sensofusion on behindrobotics · IPO hub · confirmed

Stryker puts ~US$400M into CMR Surgical, plus an option to buy

Stryker is putting about $400M (£300M) of preferred equity into CMR Surgical. It also gets an exclusive option to buy the remaining equity and becomes the exclusive US sales agent for Versius. The deal is subject to approvals.
Why it matters: This is Stryker's entry into soft-tissue robotics, through staged capital, a sales channel and an option. It is not a full takeover, at least not yet.
CMR Surgical on behindrobotics · PR · confirmed (round row pending merge)

Also on the tape: OMRON–OnLogic, $675M EV (link) · General Intuition, $220M at $6.2B (link).

Money

Week equity (research window, dated about 6–17 Oct 2026, proposed + live): ~US$1.35B. That is Sensofusion ~280 + ICON 200 + Astribot ~140 + MMI 125 + Mecka 60 + Minerva 10 + FAIRINO ~140 (claimed) + Stryker/CMR 400 (US$M).
Week debt (separate): Waymo US$5B term loan (2026-10-08).
TEKEVER's $580M is dated 23 Sep, so it is the Number of the week but falls outside the week-window sum.

China corner

1. Astribot re-rates to RMB 15B. It raised about RMB 1B (~US$140M) led by 投控东海, its fourth round in about six months, adding RMB 5B of valuation in roughly three months. Astribot on behindrobotics · Wire · confirmed (multiple Chinese outlets; no company PR)
2. Yinghe Robotics (盈合) is in bankruptcy. The case sits with the Shenzhen Intermediate Court, and the first creditors' meeting is on 19 Oct 2026. The company raised more than RMB 600M historically (Meituan and ByteDance reported as backers). Yinghe on behindrobotics · Our analysis · confirmed
3. Leju's ChiNext IPO is suspended. The tracker shows 受理 2026-05-19 → 已问询 2026-05-26 → 中止 2026-09-30. No reason has been stated. Leju on behindrobotics · claimed (IPO tracker / exchange notices)

Database update: Week 42

Live baseline (live data, 2026-10-17): 1,174 companies · 99 robots · 416 capital rounds · ~$82.0B tracked · 11 regulations (0 UK live).

Proposed this week, pending merge (from our research and pending files). Some early-week items, including TEKEVER, Sensofusion, Minerva and Yinghe, are already live.

New deployment signals (deployments data, pending merge): - MMI, Symani Surgical System: about 50 installed systems and about 3,500 procedures (reported). - NEUBILITY, Neubie AMR: 150+ operating sites in Korea and overseas. That is a lower bound, and sites are not units.

Backfills logged Fri, not this week's news: Wayve $1.2B Series D (Feb 2026), True Anomaly $650M Series D incl. $50M debt (Apr 2026), Airbound $37M (Aug 2026).

One to watch: Sensofusion

Sensofusion is a public counter-UAS pure-play out of Helsinki. It discloses revenue and EBIT and has a fresh IPO price, which makes it a useful benchmark for every defense-drone private still pitching a "path to public." It is already on the scoreboard's "new in the last 14 days" strip at $280M.
Sensofusion on behindrobotics · confirmed (live DB)

Close

The scoreboard is live at behindrobotics.com/scoreboard. Open the capital tab (link) and filter by region yourself: the US has the money, China has the models. Then look at Sensofusion (link), a public counter-UAS company with published revenue and EBIT. Data updates land every Wednesday. Reply and tell us which company or number we should check next. Japan regulation is next on our list.