The world's robots, ranked by evidence — not by money.

How the Robot 500 works (v1.0)

Like IMDb's Top 250, the Robot 500 combines several signals and deliberately discounts items with thin evidence. Unlike IMDb, our inputs are not votes (yet) but sourced facts, and every one of them is visible and linked on the robot's page.

Score (0–100) = 45% Capability + 25% Availability + 20% Transparency + 10% Recency.

1. Capability (45%). For each robot we take its key performance figures and compare them with every other robot in the same category, as percentiles, so a robot vacuum is only ever compared with robot vacuums. Figures the maker states count in full; figures reported by media or retailers count half; unconfirmed figures count for nothing.Evidence shrinkage (the IMDb step): capability = (n × robot's average + 4 × category average) ÷ (n + 4), where n is the number of sourced figures. A robot with one impressive number cannot jump above a robot with five good ones.
2. Availability (25%). Can you actually get it? Half an absolute scale (Shipping 100, Pre-order 75, Pilot 65, Announced 40, Prototype 30, Discontinued 10, Concept 15, Rumoured 5) and half its standing against peers in the same category.
3. Transparency (20%). The share of the robot's specifications the maker has actually published, plus a published price, ranked against peers in the category — so categories where makers publish more are not favoured over those where they publish less.
4. Recency (10%). Announced within 12 months 100; 24 months 80; 36 months 60; 5 years 40; older 25; date unknown 40.

Capability figures used, by category

• Humanoids: Degrees of freedom, Hand DOF, Payload, Runtime, Walking speed
• Quadrupeds: Speed, Payload, Runtime, Degrees of freedom
• Robot vacuums: Suction, Runtime, Noise (lower is better), Robot height (lower is better), Threshold climb
• Lawn mowers: Rated area, Max slope, Cutting width, Noise (lower is better)
• Pool robots: Pool area, Filter fineness (lower is better), Charge time (lower is better)
• eVTOL: Range, Cruise speed, Top speed, Passengers, Payload
• Cobots: Payload, Reach, Repeatability (lower is better), Tool speed
• Service robots: Payload, Runtime, Tray load
• Window robots: Backup battery, Noise (lower is better)

Who is eligible

A robot must be a working, unveiled product (not rumoured or concept only), have at least 8 sourced values on its page and at least 2 sourced capability figures. Everything else is on the watchlist until the evidence exists — makers can get in by publishing their specifications.

What the Robot 500 does not measure (yet)

It does not measure sales, fleet size or real-world reliability, because few makers publish them; version 2 will add verified deployment figures and, once traffic allows, reader ratings weighted by volume like IMDb's. It is a ranking of published evidence, not a buying recommendation.

Independence

Rankings are never for sale. No sponsorship, advertising or affiliate relationship can change a score. The whole calculation is re-run from our records every time the site is rebuilt; if a maker corrects a figure, the score changes with it. Questions or corrections: [email protected].