Humanoid robots are everywhere on social media: doing kung fu, folding laundry, sorting parts in car factories. Elon Musk says Tesla's Optimus will eventually outnumber people. So the obvious questions are: how much does one cost, can you actually buy one, and what can they genuinely do once the cameras stop rolling?
We've gone through prices, company filings, shipment figures and independent reporting for the twelve or so humanoids that matter in October 2026. The short version: the American robots you've heard of are mostly not for sale; the Chinese ones are, and some you can order in the UK today; and none of them is ready to do your housework.
At a glance
| Robot | Maker | Price | Can you buy one? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla Optimus V3 | Tesla (US) | No price. Musk targets $20k–30k at scale | No. Internal use only; outside sales around end-2027 |
| Figure 03 | Figure AI (US) | No price | No. Business partners only |
| Atlas | Boston Dynamics (US/Hyundai) | No price | No. All 2026 units to Hyundai and Google DeepMind |
| Digit | Agility Robotics (US) | $8,500/month lease, or ~$200k to buy | Businesses only |
| Apollo 2 | Apptronik (US) | No price | No. Pilots only |
| NEO | 1X (US/Norway) | $20,000 or $499/month | US pre-order only. International from 2027 |
| R1 / G1 / H2 | Unitree (China) | From $4,900 / $13,500 / $29,900 | Yes, including UK resellers |
| X2 Neo / A2 Lite | AgiBot (China) | $25,600 / $44,560 | Yes, from its global store (ships from China) |
| Walker S2 | UBTech (China) | No list price (~$95k implied) | Businesses only |
| GR-3 | Fourier (China) | From about $27.5k | Businesses only |
| IRON | XPeng (China) | Not announced | No. Deliveries from 2027 |
| T800 | EngineAI (China) | From ¥180,000 in China | Mostly China only |
The American big names
1. Tesla Optimus V3
Price: None published. Elon Musk's only figure is a long-term target of $20,000–30,000 once production is at scale.
Can you buy one? No. There's no pre-order for consumers or businesses. Musk is aiming for public sales by late 2027, and reports suggest Tesla will lease robots to selected business customers first.
What it can really do: Tesla has converted its old Model S and Model X line at Fremont to build Optimus, and reports say output reached several hundred robots a week in August, with a goal of more than 1,000 a week by the end of 2026. But those robots are used inside Tesla for testing, training and data collection; Tesla has announced no outside customers. Reporting by The Information says Optimus still struggles with unfamiliar tasks without extensive training, and parts of its complex hand were still assembled by hand as of September. The V3 being built now isn't the final commercial design, and Tesla has missed Optimus deadlines before.
Latest: On 21 October Tesla said Optimus production has begun on its high-volume Fremont lines, calling the first robots "production-quality". Elon Musk described it as "early production" and said reaching 20,000 a week would take at least a year, with deliveries to outside companies around the end of 2027. Tesla gave no price, volume or customer. Read our full report.
2. Figure 03
Price: No public price. One report puts BMW's cost at about $25 per robot working hour, but that's a single unconfirmed report.
Can you buy one? No. Figure only works with business partners. There's no shop or waiting list, despite marketing the robot as a home helper.
What it can really do: On paper Figure 03 is impressive: 5ft 8in, a 20kg payload, around five hours of battery and wireless charging through its feet, all run by Figure's own Helix AI. Figure says it had delivered more than 350 robots by April and built its 1,000th in July. Since June, a Figure 03 has been sequencing parts at BMW's Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, following an earlier pilot that supported production of more than 30,000 BMW X3s. Its home demos, loading dishwashers and tidying bedrooms, are company videos that nobody independent has verified.
Latest: Figure also signed a retail logistics deal with Catalyst Brands in May.
3. Boston Dynamics Atlas
Price: Not published. A figure of around $320,000 circulates online, but we couldn't find a reliable source for it.
Can you buy one? No. Every Atlas built in 2026 is going to Hyundai and Google DeepMind, with other customers planned from 2027.
What it can really do: Atlas has the strongest hardware here: 50kg instant lift, a four-hour swappable battery and full waterproofing. But it isn't doing real factory work yet. In September Boston Dynamics opened a training centre inside Hyundai's Georgia plant where Atlas learns parts handling; actual production work starts in 2028, and component assembly from 2030. Tellingly, Boston Dynamics' own press photo of the centre is captioned as a trainer teleoperating Atlas, so humans are still steering it while it learns.
Latest: Hyundai plans to use 25,000 Atlas robots across its factories eventually, and Boston Dynamics named a new CEO, Rohit Prasad, in October.
4. Agility Robotics Digit
Price: The only big-name humanoid with a public price, thanks to its stock market filings: $8,500 a month to lease, plus around $25,000 to set up, or around $200,000 to buy outright plus deployment and support costs.
Can you buy one? Yes, but only for businesses. There's no UK deployment yet.
What it can really do: Digit has the best real-world record of any humanoid: more than 65,000 working hours across nine customer sites, including logistics firm GXO, Schaeffler and Toyota. But it's doing one narrow job, moving plastic totes, and every Digit at work today operates inside a fenced-off area. The maths is sobering too: Agility's own figures suggest a leased Digit only beats the cost of a human worker if it runs about 68 hours a week or more.
Latest: Agility is going public through a merger expected to close in November, and its next-generation Digit 5 reaches early customers in 2027.
5. Apptronik Apollo
Price: No public price.
Can you buy one? No. Apollo 2 runs only in pilots and training fleets; the first proper commercial model, Apollo 3, is due in 2027.
What it can really do: Apptronik is refreshingly open that Apollo 2 is a data-collection robot, and that its training data comes from "a combination of teleoperation and autonomous execution". Fleets work at its Austin "Robot Park" and at partners including Mercedes-Benz, GXO and Google DeepMind.
Latest: Apptronik has raised more than $935 million in its Series A round, backed by Google, Mercedes-Benz and John Deere among others.
6. 1X NEO
Price: $20,000 to buy or $499 a month, with a $200 refundable deposit.
Can you buy one? Only as a US pre-order. International deliveries are promised from 2027, so not in the UK yet. As of mid-October, no delivery to a paying customer had been publicly confirmed.
What it can really do: NEO is the only humanoid genuinely sold as a home robot. It's light at 30kg, quiet, and runs for about four hours. But for chores it hasn't learned, a remote 1X employee steers it through a VR headset during sessions you book, which means a stranger seeing inside your home. Early reviews found it almost entirely remote-controlled.
Latest: Its California factory began production in April 2026.
The Chinese makers
Chinese companies built the overwhelming majority of the world's humanoids this year, and unlike their American rivals, several will sell you one.
7. Unitree R1, G1 and H2
Price: Official prices (before tax and shipping): R1 from $4,900, G1 $13,500, H2 $29,900. Developer "EDU" versions cost considerably more.
Can you buy one? Yes, including in the UK through resellers (see below).
What it can really do: Unitree's robots are superb at movement: the dancing, flipping and kung-fu videos are real. But as workers they're limited. Battery life is about an hour for the R1, two for the G1 and three for the H2, and the cheaper arms lift about 2kg. The base R1 and G1 can't run your own code, so developers need the far pricier EDU versions. Most go to universities, labs and entertainment. Security researchers have also disclosed a Bluetooth flaw affecting the G1.
Latest: Unitree shipped more than 7,000 humanoids in the first half of 2026 and its stock market debut valued it at about $9 billion. In the US, new foreign-made robot models are now blocked from approval, but that rule doesn't apply in the UK.
8. AgiBot (Zhiyuan)
Price: On its own online store: X2 Neo $25,600, A2 Lite $44,560. Bigger models are by quote.
Can you buy one? Yes, from store.agibot.com, shipped from China in 5–30 working days, with import VAT and duty on top. European rental is available from about €1,500 a week.
What it can really do: AgiBot is the world's volume leader, with about 9,700 shipped in the first half of 2026. Much of that goes to entertainment, events and data collection rather than paid physical labour.
Latest: AgiBot says it built its 20,000th robot of all types in September.
9. UBTech Walker S2
Price: No list price. Its results imply roughly $95,000 per robot.
Can you buy one? Businesses only, by quote.
What it can really do: Walker S2's party trick is genuinely useful: it can swap its own battery in about three minutes, allowing round-the-clock shifts. It lifts about 15kg and works in car and electronics factories, with customers including Foxconn, BYD and Geely. One factory manager quoted by the Financial Times put its productivity at 30–50% of a human on specific tasks.
Latest: UBTech delivered 921 humanoids in the first half of 2026 and its 1,000th Walker S2 came off the line in June.
10. Fourier GR-3
Price: From about $27,500, sold to businesses.
Can you buy one? Businesses only, through resellers.
What it can really do: Fourier came from rehabilitation robotics, and the GR-3 is designed for care and companionship rather than heavy work: it lifts only about 3kg per arm but has 31 pressure sensors across its body.
Latest: The GR-3 "Care-bot" made its US debut at CES 2026.
11. XPeng IRON
Price: Not announced.
Can you buy one? Not yet. XPeng plans deliveries in the first half of 2027 and a European rollout in the second half.
What it can really do: XPeng opened a production line in September. The first robots will greet customers in its own car showrooms. It has impressive specs on paper, but no output figures yet.
Latest: XPeng's robotics arm raised around $900 million in August.
12. EngineAI T800
Price: From ¥180,000 in China. International prices have been removed from its website, though a European reseller lists the T800 at around €34,400.
Can you buy one? Mostly in China.
What it can really do: Best known for front-flip and combat videos. Little has been published about real deployments.
Latest: Its first T800s rolled off a new Shenzhen plant in May.
Other Chinese names to watch include Galbot, whose wheeled robots run unstaffed pharmacies, Leju, Booster Robotics and Kepler. Closer to home, London start-up Humanoid is running pilots with Bosch lined up to manufacture its robot, and Falmouth's Engineered Arts sells and hires out its expressive Ameca robot.
The reality check
The market is real but small. About 22,000 humanoids were shipped worldwide in the first half of 2026, according to Counterpoint Research, and Chinese firms made almost all of them. For comparison, millions of robot vacuums are sold every year.
Most aren't doing paid work. More than 60% went to entertainment, performances, research or data collection. Only around 13% went to factories and 5% to warehouses.
Humans are often still in control. Teleoperation, a person steering the robot remotely, is everywhere: 1X sells it as a feature, Apptronik says its training uses it, and Boston Dynamics' own photos show it. Treat any impressive demo video as possibly remote-controlled unless the maker says otherwise.
Batteries and strength are modest. Small robots last one to two hours; full-size ones three to five. Affordable models lift a couple of kilos per arm.
No home humanoid has been independently confirmed delivered. If you want a robot to do your washing up, you'll be waiting a while yet.
What you can actually buy in the UK today
All of these are research and education machines, not home helpers. Prices include VAT and were checked on 20 October 2026.
| Robot | UK price | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Unitree R1 Air | £4,799.99 (pre-order) | Scan |
| Unitree R1 | From £7,104 | RoboSavvy |
| Unitree R1 EDU | £12,499.99 (in stock) | Scan |
| Unitree G1 | From £16,568 | RoboSavvy |
| Unitree G1 | £19,200 | RobotShop UK |
| Unitree G1 | £20,999.99 (next-day) | Scan |
| Unitree H2 | About £30,000–£32,400 | Scan |
| AgiBot X2 Neo | $25,600 plus shipping and import VAT | AgiBot store |
So the cheapest real walking humanoid you can buy in Britain is the Unitree R1 Air at about £4,800, and a G1 costs roughly £17,000–£21,000. Nothing from Tesla, Figure, Boston Dynamics, Agility, Apptronik or 1X can be bought by UK customers today.
The bottom line
Humanoid robots have moved from science fiction to real factories in just a couple of years, and prices are falling fast: a walking robot for under £5,000 would have sounded absurd in 2023. But the gap between the videos and reality is still wide. For now, the Chinese makers are winning on volume and price, the Americans are betting on smarter AI and big industrial partners, and the general-purpose robot butler remains a few years away. We'll keep this guide updated as prices and launches change.
Can't stretch to £4,800? The Petoi Bittle X robot dog lets you program a walking robot at home for a fraction of the price, in blocks, C++ or Python.
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