Bloomberg Technology

Humanoids: From Spectacle to Scale | Bloomberg Tech: Asia 5/29/2026

The Bloomberg Tech: Asia episode covered the Humanoid Summit in Tokyo, where industry leaders argued that proof‑of‑concepts are complete and the next hurdle is scaling humanoid robots into commercial deployments. Analysts cited Barclays’ estimate of a $2‑3 billion market today, with forecasts of $40 billion by 2035 and up to $5 trillion by 2050 when service‑sector and supply‑chain applications are included. Venture funding surged from $700 million in 2018 to over $4 billion last year, and startups such as FigureAI are already hitting billion‑dollar valuations. Manufacturing emerged as the first large‑scale use case, with only 13,000 units shipped in 2025 versus half a million traditional industrial robots, but projections suggest 12 million humanoids could be operating by 2035, led by Chinese manufacturers offering lower prices. Google’s DeepMind highlighted its Gemini robotics platform, which combines large language models, multimodal perception and reinforcement learning to tackle dexterous tasks like folding origami or packing lunch boxes. Honda’s senior engineer stressed a shift from locomotion to high‑level manipulation, while DeepMind’s safety team outlined a multilayered approach covering functional, control and semantic‑physical safety. The discussion also touched on geopolitical rivalry, with U.S. and Chinese firms racing to set standards and secure supply chains. If the projected adoption materializes, humanoid robots could transition from niche demos to a defining economic force, reshaping labor markets, logistics and consumer services. Companies that solve cost, safety and regulatory challenges early will capture the bulk of a market that could dwarf current industrial‑robot revenues, while policymakers will need to address standards and cybersecurity to avoid new risks.