Midea, the home‑appliance giant and parent company of Kuka Robotics, unveiled a new humanoid robot prototype at the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, held in late July.
The introduction reflects Midea’s growing ambition in embodied intelligence – the convergence of robotics, AI and real‑world agency.
Industry reporting from South Korea and China indicates that Midea and other appliance titans are channeling “big” investments into household service robotics. Yicai Global estimates Midea has committed CNY 1.5 billion ($208 million) toward an embodied intelligence technology platform.
Analysts note that in early 2025, domestic embodied AI funding across China already equaled the total deployed in 2024 – signaling a pivotal moment in the sector.
Meanwhile Midea’s R&D budget expanded over 13 percent year‑on‑year to reach around $1.57 billion (11.4 billion yuan) by Q1 2025.
Robots take centre‑stage at WAIC
WAIC 2025 featured more than 150 humanoid robots from over 80 companies, debuting 60+ new intelligent models – a clear leap toward commercial use cases over lab prototypes.
Robots sparred in live boxing demonstrations – from Unitree’s G1 model to competitors’ agile humanoid fighters – and even played mahjong tableside, drawing crowds and viral social posts.
Beyond spectacle, many exhibitors emphasised more practical advances: new robotic arms powered by Tencent Robotics X’s VLA large language model, dual‑arm integration, closed‑loop feedback, and gesture interpretation that can autonomously reject irrational commands.
Midea charts a course for household utility
Household robotics today remain limited: simple mobility, chat interfaces, and basic observation. But Midea’s strategy targets service robots capable of real chores – doing laundry, loading and unloading dishwashers, folding clothes, and straightening kitchens. In effect, moving from machines that “see and speak” to those that “see and do”.
Midea leverages its scale: an installed base of over 500 million smart appliances, proprietary environmental and usage data from 73 million connected devices, plus in‑house vertical integration from micro‑motors to cloud services.
That lets it lower production costs – analysts estimate its industrial robots may sell for under $25,000, versus Tesla’s Optimus at more than $30,000 – potentially boosting adoption in cost‑sensitive markets.
Investing behind the vision
Midea’s shift into embodied AI aligns with national priorities. Guangdong province, which hosts Midea’s headquarters in Foshan, is prioritising AI and robotics as new high‑growth industrial clusters in 2025.
Midea’s broader business performance underscores the move: in Q1 2025 revenue hit RMB 128.4 billion ($18 billion), with net profit rising 38 percent year‑on‑year and strong momentum across its Robotics & Automation division (which achieved about RMB 7.3 billion in revenue).
Meanwhile, rivals like AgiBot are racing ahead – exhibiting their Genie Envisioner open‑source humanoid platform at WAIC. That platform integrates prediction, control and evaluation in an end‑to‑end solution, while AgiBot claims its robot‑interaction database is the largest globally.
Outlook: from home showcase to global footprint
At WAIC, China positioned its robotics ecosystem as part of an open, multilateral approach to AI – unlike more closed systems in the US market – and highlighted low production costs, open‑source model adoption, and strong government incentives.
Midea is well‑placed to benefit: its appliance dominance, Matter‑compatible smart ecosystem, ESG credentials and vertically integrated supply chain give it competitive advantages in both domestic and export markets.
As the technology matures, the real test will be whether Midea’s humanoid robots move from demo stages to actual homes – fulfilling tasks consumers want rather than just talk about. But given its deep pockets and scale, Midea appears determined to make that happen.
