Key Takeaways:
The commercialization of humanoid robots is pivoting from the factory floor to the living room after Figure CEO Brett Adcock announced plans to lease the company’s androids to consumers for approximately $600 per month. The move prioritizes the home market for daily chores, opening a new consumer-focused front in a sector previously geared toward industrial automation and logistics.
"You can expect to lease a Figure 03 for about $600 a month," Adcock said, comparing the model to an automobile lease. He described the company's plan to deploy robots for tasks like laundry, washing dishes, and tidying rooms as a "near-term" priority, a significant strategic shift from the industry’s prevailing focus on selling or leasing robots to businesses for use in warehouses and manufacturing plants.
Figure is not alone in targeting the consumer market. OpenAI-backed 1X Technologies is already taking pre-orders for its NEO home humanoid, offering an early access purchase price of $20,000 or a subscription for $499 per month, with first shipments planned for this year. The direct-to-consumer models from Figure and 1X are entering a market where Tesla has also stated ambitions to price its Optimus robot under $20,000.
The race to find a viable business model for humanoid robots now pits the consumer-subscription strategy of US startups against the manufacturing scale of their Chinese counterparts. While Adcock released a chart showing Figure’s monthly production is growing, the chart lacked a Y-axis to verify the actual number of units. In contrast, Chinese competitor Agibot has reportedly shipped approximately 5,000 humanoid robots in just three months.
While US companies are setting consumer price points, the world’s largest and most active humanoid robot market in China offers a cautionary tale. The country, which shipped roughly 90 percent of the world's humanoid robots in 2025, has more than 150 companies competing for a market that remains largely unsatisfied with the current technology.
A recent Morgan Stanley survey found that only 23 percent of Chinese enterprises that are expected to buy these robots are satisfied with the products available. Key complaints include short battery life, often just two to three hours per charge, and limited capabilities that struggle to justify costs. According to the survey, mass adoption would require prices to fall below $28,000, a benchmark that many manufacturers, including China’s Unitree and Kepler, are targeting.
The gap between production volume and market-readiness is a critical challenge. Companies like Agibot and Unitree are pursuing billion-dollar initial public offerings on the back of their manufacturing capabilities, but the underlying demand remains unproven. China’s National Development and Reform Commission has already issued a public warning about the sector, noting redundant products and a potential bubble.
For investors, the key metric is not production volume but commercial viability. The success of Figure, 1X, and their rivals will depend on whether their robots can perform unstructured, real-world tasks reliably enough to convince a household or a business to pay for them every month. As the market stands, that question remains unanswered. The winner will be the company that solves the utility problem, not just the one that builds the most machines.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
