Humanoid robots you can buy in 2026: shipping vs pre-order vs pilot, and who each one suits

Most humanoids in the news can't be bought. This guide sorts all 87 humanoids in our database by whether you can order one today, put down a deposit, join a pilot or only watch the video. It covers how each one is sold, who it suits (labs, schools, factories or homes) and what to check before you sign.

Last checked 8–9 October 2026. Spec-based analysis from maker-published figures; we have not tested these robots hands-on.

The short answer

Of the 87 humanoids we track, 19 have a shipping status and 14 are on pre-order. That makes 33 you can, in principle, start buying. Nine more are in paid pilots with chosen customers. The other 45 are prototypes, announcements, rumours, discontinued models or records with no confirmed status.

"Shipping" is not the same as "in stock". Unitree's own store says the G1 is backordered. AgiBot tells buyers to check with its sales team before it will confirm delivery to their country. And the robots that are easy to buy are mostly small research and education machines. The tall, strong humanoids aimed at factory work are almost all in pilots.

For prices, see our separate humanoid robot price list. This guide is about availability and fit.

What the status labels mean

We give every robot one launch status. The wording matters because makers use "available" loosely.

• Shipping. The maker says units are being delivered to customers. There is a public order route, whether that's a checkout, a sales enquiry or a commercial contract.
• Pre-order. You can reserve or pay a deposit, but deliveries have not started, or have not started in your region.
• Pilot. The robot works at named customer sites under a managed programme. There is no general sale.
• Prototype / announced. The robot has been shown or described, but there is no order route.

Where our source for a status is not the maker, the robot page marks it unconfirmed.

Humanoids that are shipping now

This table lists every humanoid with a shipping status in our database, with how you actually order it as of early October 2026.

Three of these need a warning.

K-Scale K-Bot. Our record's shipping status is unconfirmed. In November 2025, Humanoids Daily reported a letter from the founder telling customers that K-Bot pre-orders were cancelled and deposits refunded, and that the company's IP would be open-sourced. Treat it as a design you can study, not a product you can order.

Unitree H1. The shop still shows a figure, but the listing title now points buyers to Unitree sales for the real price, and there is no add-to-cart button. The newer H2 is the same height and is the one Unitree sells through its checkout.

Dexmate Vega. The live store page now calls the robot Vega 1 Pro and shows 2026 promotional pricing that differs from the figures in our record. We are re-checking the record. The page also says the price covers hardware only and excludes end effectors and AI capabilities.

Humanoids on pre-order

A pre-order puts you in a queue. Before you pay, check what the deposit buys and whether you can get it back.

Two things stand out. First, only four of the fourteen state a delivery timeframe on their own pages (1X, Weave, NEURA and Dexmate). Second, a couple of "pre-order" robots now say they can deliver in weeks. For Dexmate's Vega 1 U and Astribot's T1, our pre-order label may already be out of date, and we will update it once the makers' own pages confirm delivery.

The big names you can't buy (yet)

Nine humanoids are in pilots: Boston Dynamics Atlas, Figure 03, Apptronik Apollo 2, Hexagon AEON, Humanoid HMND 01, Sanctuary Phoenix, UBTECH Walker C, UBTECH Walker S1 and 1X EVE. Tesla Optimus and Agility Digit 5 are listed by their makers as prototypes.

There is no form to fill in for these. Access comes through a commercial relationship with the maker, usually as a named partner on a production line or in a warehouse. If you run a factory and want one, the realistic route is to apply for a pilot. Expect to share data, accept teleoperation for training (Atlas, Apollo 2 and Optimus V3 records all say this) and pay for integration work.

These are also the robots built for heavy work. Atlas is rated by Boston Dynamics for a 30 kg carry and 50 kg peak lift with an IP67 rating. Figure 03 is rated for 20 kg. The cheaper robots you can order today are mostly rated for 2–3 kg per arm.

Who should buy what

Research labs

Choose by research question, not by height.

• Locomotion and whole-body control: Unitree G1 EDU or H2 EDU, Booster T1, EngineAI PM01 or the T800 Open Source edition. Unitree publishes its SDK2 and ROS 2 interface under BSD-3-Clause. Booster publishes its SDK under Apache-2.0 with RL training and deploy frameworks.
• Manipulation and data collection: wheeled bimanual platforms such as Reachy 2, Dexmate Vega, Rainbow RB-Y1 and Astribot T1. A wheeled base won't fall over, gives longer runtime (Reachy 2's base is rated for 480 min, Vega for 1,200 min) and leaves the budget for arms, hands and sensors. Most of these makers also support VR teleoperation for gathering demonstrations.

The trap is the entry-level SKU. Unitree states on its store that the standard G1 does not support secondary development, and says the same of H2 and R1. AgiBot's X2 Neo and EngineAI's T800 Basic are also closed. If you need to write your own controllers, budget for the EDU or open edition from the start.

Schools and outreach

Small, light robots are safer to have around students and cheaper to repair. NAO is 0.57 m and 5.48 kg, with a datasheet that cites IEC 62368-1, the electrical safety standard for audio, video and IT equipment. Unitree R1 (1.23 m), Booster K1 (0.95 m) and the AgiBot X2 family (1.31 m) cover the next step up. Short runtimes are the norm: R1 is rated for 60 minutes and NAO for 60–90.

Industry

What you can buy outright is narrow. UBTECH Walker S2 has a shipping status and a hot-swap battery. Agility Digit is supplied to logistics customers under commercial agreements. AgiBot A2 lists PLd-level safety protection on its product page, though the store page does not repeat it. Everything heavier is a pilot. For a factory, a wheeled dual-arm robot or a conventional cobot is often the faster route to a working cell. See our cobot buying guide.

Homes

No home humanoid in our database has reached general delivery. The three with order pages are 1X NEO, Weave Isaac 1 and Flourish 1. Two of the three are wheeled, not legged. All are sold in the US first.

Read the fine print on how they learn. 1X says owners can book one of its experts to guide NEO through chores it doesn't yet know, and our record classes NEO as teleoperation-assisted. That may mean a remote person sees your home through the robot's cameras, so ask before you order. Flourish's founder told The Robot Report that the robot relies on cloud GPUs and needs a network connection.

What you get at each budget

This is a summary of capability by tier. Exact figures are in the price list.

• Under about US$10,000. Small bipeds (Unitree R1) and early home robots on pre-order (Flourish 1, Weave Isaac 1). Expect about an hour of runtime on the bipeds, light payloads and, on the cheapest SKUs, no programming access.
• About US$10,000–30,000. The research workhorse tier: Unitree G1 and H2, AgiBot X2, Astribot T1 and the 1X NEO Early Access purchase. The jump to an EDU edition, which Unitree sells only through sales, can change the price a lot. Ask for a written quote.
• About US$30,000–100,000. Full-size bipeds with optional dexterous hands (AgiBot A2; EngineAI T800, which launched from ¥180,000 in China) and serious manipulation platforms (Reachy 2, Dexmate Vega, RB-Y1). NEURA quotes an estimated €98,000 per unit for 1–19 units of 4NE1, excluding tax and shipping.
• Above that, or unpriced. Industrial humanoids under contract or pilot. Prices are negotiated and seldom published.

What to check before you order

1. Returns and refunds. Unitree's store policy says "We do not accept returns for ALL items" and offers refunds only on requests made before delivery (policy). Deposits differ too: Weave and NEURA describe theirs as refundable, while 1X's product page doesn't address refunds.

2. Warranty in writing. Of the stores we checked, only AgiBot's A2 page states a warranty: one year or 3,000 hours. AgiBot's X2 pages leave warranty cover to be confirmed with sales before ordering. Ask who does repairs, where, and whether you ship a 70 kg robot back to China for them.

3. Total landed cost. Unitree quotes shipping at US$300–1,200 on G1 and R1. AgiBot quotes US$500–3,000 on A2. In both cases the buyer pays duties, taxes and import clearance, and Unitree warns that missing customs details can lead to the shipment being returned at the buyer's expense.

4. SDK and licence. Confirm that your edition supports secondary development, which languages and ROS versions it supports, and whether the low-level joint interface is open. Galaxea's R1 SDK, for example, targets ROS Noetic on Ubuntu 20.04, a ROS 1 release.

5. Safety evidence. Few makers name a standard. There is no published ISO safety standard written for legged or balancing industrial robots yet. ISO/CD 25785-1, covering dynamically stable industrial mobile robots (legged, wheeled or other), is at committee-draft stage under ISO/TC 299. Its draft scope is limited to workplaces where the public is excluded or restricted. In the EU, Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies from 20 January 2027 and adds provisions for machinery with AI-powered safety functions (European Commission). Machinery placed on the EU market from that date must meet it. Ask for the Declaration of Conformity and the risk assessment. A certificate of conformity that names no standard, which is all AgiBot's X2 box contents list, tells you little.

6. Sales region and export. Only 4 of the 19 shipping records state where the maker sells. Galbot lists China only. Weave and 1X start in the US. Check that the maker will support your country, that its radio modules are approved there, and whether either country needs an export or import licence for your use. We don't track licensing, so ask the seller and your customs broker.

7. Remote access and data. Find out whether the robot needs the cloud, whether remote operators can take control, and where camera and audio data is stored.

What the numbers say (Analysis)

• Only 33 of 87 humanoids (38%) have an order route at all: 19 shipping and 14 on pre-order. Another 9 are pilot-only.
• Buyable humanoids are small. The median height of the 17 shipping robots with a published height is 1.4 m, and their median weight is 42 kg. For the 8 pilot robots with published height and weight, the medians are 1.72 m and 73 kg.
• Runtime is short. Across the 17 shipping robots that state runtime, the median is 120 minutes. All three ratings of 480 minutes or more belong to wheeled platforms (Galbot G1, Reachy 2's base, Dexmate Vega).
• Programmability is common, but not by default. 12 of the 19 shipping records list an SDK or development interface. Only 5 state ROS support. At least five entry SKUs (standard Unitree G1, H2 and R1, AgiBot X2 Neo and EngineAI T800 Basic) exclude secondary development.
• Safety paperwork is thin. 2 of the 19 shipping robots name a safety standard or level in our records: NAO (IEC 62368-1) and AgiBot A2 (PLd-level).
• Supply is concentrated. 13 of the 19 shipping robots come from makers our records list as Chinese.

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy a humanoid robot for my home in 2026?

You can pre-order one. 1X NEO, Weave Isaac 1 and Flourish 1 take orders in the US, with first deliveries planned for 2026 and wider rollout from 2027. None has a shipping status in our database yet.

What is the cheapest humanoid I can actually receive?

Among robots with a shipping status and a maker price, Unitree's R1 is the cheapest. Some R1 variants are backordered, and the standard version can't be programmed. See the price list for figures.

Why can't I order Tesla Optimus, Figure 03 or Atlas?

Their makers list them as prototypes or pilots. Access is through commercial partnerships, not public sale.

Is a humanoid pre-order deposit refundable?

It depends on the maker. Weave and NEURA say theirs are refundable. Unitree's store refunds only before delivery and does not accept returns. Read the reservation agreement before you pay.

Do I need an EDU version for research?

Usually, yes. Unitree, AgiBot and EngineAI all lock development access on their base models. Confirm that your quote names the edition that supports it.

How long does delivery take?

Few makers say. Dexmate quotes about four weeks from order confirmation. Unitree marks the G1 as backordered with no date. AgiBot and Booster ask you to contact sales.

Are humanoids certified as safe to work next to people?

Not to a humanoid-specific standard yet. ISO 25785-1 is still a committee draft. Our records report that Agility's current Digit works behind physical barriers. Agility says its new Digit 5 passed an independent field evaluation against OSHA standards on a customer line, with CE marking expected.

Methodology

We grouped the 87 humanoid records in the RankedRobot database by launch status. Each status, spec and price comes from the source linked on that robot's page, which is usually the maker's product page, store, datasheet or press release. Media and reseller figures are labelled "reported". On 8–9 October 2026 we rechecked the maker order pages linked above for availability, lead times, deposit terms, warranty and return wording. Where a live page differed from our record, we say so in the text.

Medians and counts use only records that publish the field, and the denominators are stated. We have not tested these robots hands-on. Our methodology page explains how records are sourced and checked.

You can browse every humanoid in the humanoid category, see our best humanoids and humanoid buying guide, filter by status in the finder, or put two robots side by side in compare. For a ranking of advanced robots across categories, see Robot500.

Spotted an error or a newer figure? Email corrections@rankedrobot.com and we'll check it and log the correction.