Unitree Robotics may be little known outside China. Its robots are not. Millions around the world have watched videos of the company’s machines carrying out remarkable feats that seem almost superhuman.

宇树科技在中国以外可能鲜为人知，但它的机器人却绝非如此。全世界成百上千万人都观看过该公司机器人的视频，它们完成的惊人壮举简直超乎人类。

During China’s nationally televised Lunar New Year celebration, a troupe of Unitree humanoid robots performed an elaborate kung fu routine, scaling walls, executing back flips and wielding swords.

在中国向全国直播的春节晚会上，一群宇树人形机器人献上了精心编排的功夫表演，它们能攀爬墙壁，还能后空翻和舞剑。

Now the company is taking its biggest step yet: an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. On Thursday, Unitree priced its shares at the equivalent of around $22, seeking to raise about $900 million in a deal valuing it at about $9 billion.

如今，该公司正迈出迄今为止最大的一步：在上海证券交易所进行首次公开募股(IPO)。本周四，宇树科技将其股票定价在150.8元的水平，旨在通过此次交易筹集约60.9亿元，公司估值约为610亿元。

The listing comes at a pivotal moment for the humanoid robot industry. Investors are betting that machines built to look and move like humans will become the next major technology breakthrough. Governments increasingly see them as strategic assets as well.

此次上市正值人形机器人行业的关键时刻。投资者们押注，这种外观和行动都像人类的机器将成为下一个重大技术突破。各国政府也日益将其视为战略资产。

Last month, the Federal Communications Commission announced plans to ban new Chinese-made humanoid and quadruped robots, citing national security concerns. U.S. officials argue that as such robots become commonplace in factories, offices and homes, they could surreptitiously collect sensitive commercial, government and personal information or provide new avenues for cybersecurity attacks on critical infrastructure. Last year, European researchers identified security vulnerabilities in a Unitree robot that could potentially be exploited by hackers.

上个月，美国联邦通信委员会以国家安全为由，宣布计划禁止中国制造的新型人形和四足机器人。美国官员认为，随着此类机器人在工厂、办公室和家庭中普及，它们可能会暗中收集敏感的商业、政府和个人信息，或者为针对关键基础设施的网络攻击提供新途径。去年，欧洲研究人员在宇树的一款机器人中发现了可能被黑客利用的安全漏洞。

China accused the United States of “overstretching the concept of national security,” and threatened retaliation. On Wednesday, Beijing announced a series of retaliatory measures against the United States, citing actions taken by the F.C.C. as one factor behind the moves.

中国指责美国“泛化国家安全概念”，并威胁将采取报复措施。周三，北京宣布了一系列针对美国的反制措施，并将联邦通信委员会的行动列为这些举措背后的因素之一。

5月在东京举办的一场机器人大会。美国政府拟禁止进口中国制造的新型人形机器人和四足机器人。

Washington also appears determined to avoid a repeat of what happened in the electric vehicle industry, where Chinese manufacturers, aided by generous state support, rapidly scaled production and came to dominate the global market.

华盛顿似乎也决心避免重蹈电动汽车行业的覆辙——在那个行业里，中国制造商在慷慨的国家补贴支持下，迅速扩大生产规模，并主导了全球市场。

Unitree has emerged as China’s leading contender to dominate humanoid robotics. Its importance was underscored when its founder, Wang Xingxing, sat prominently across from Xi Jinping, the country’s top leader, at a symposium last year showcasing China’s technological advances.

宇树科技已成为中国主导人形机器人领域的主要竞争者。去年，在一场展示中国科技进步的座谈会上，其创始人王兴兴醒目地坐在中国最高领导人习近平对面，凸显了该公司的重要地位。

The company, based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, traces its origins to Mr. Wang, who began tinkering with robots at age 19 while a university student. After graduate school and a stint at a drone maker, he founded the company a decade ago.

这家公司总部位于中国东部城市杭州，其源头可追溯到王兴兴本人。他在19岁读大学时就开始钻研机器人。在读完研究生并短暂就职于一家无人机制造商后，他于10年前创立了这家公司。

What started as a one-person start-up has become one of China’s leading robotics companies and a national champion in Beijing’s drive to lead the humanoid robot market. At 36, Mr. Wang has become the public face of that ambition.

这家最初只有一人的初创公司如今已发展成为中国领先的机器人企业之一，也是北京推动引领人形机器人市场进程中的国家领军企业。36岁的王兴兴已成为这一雄伟抱负的公众代言人。

Yet Unitree also embodies the central question hanging over the industry. The technology is advancing rapidly, as the company’s demonstrations make clear. Whether there will be a large commercial market anytime soon remains far less certain.

然而，宇树科技也折射出萦绕在整个行业的核心问题。正如该公司的演示所证明的那样，这项技术正在飞速发展。但短期内是否会出现大规模的商业市场仍存在极大的不确定性。

“The Unitree stock sale will be a bellwether for how the capital markets view this exciting but nascent technology,” said Lian Jye Su, a Singapore-based analyst for Omdia, a technology research firm.

科技研究公司Omdia驻新加坡的分析师苏廉节表示：“宇树科技的股票发售，将成为资本市场如何看待这项激动人心却尚处起步阶段技术的风向标。”

According to the company and market researchers, Unitree shipped more humanoid robots than any other manufacturer last year. The company remains relatively small, generating about $250 million in revenue in 2025. But sales more than quadrupled, and it is profitable.

根据该公司和市场研究人员的数据，去年宇树人形机器人的出货量超过了其他任何制造商。该公司规模依然相对较小，2025年的营收约为17亿元，但其销售额已经增长了三倍多，并实现了盈利。

Even as doubts linger about the immediate commercial viability of humanoid robots, their long-term importance is widely acknowledged as a significant step in the advancement of artificial intelligence.

尽管人们对人形机器人近期的商业可行性仍存有疑虑，但其长远的重要性已被广泛认可，被视为人工智能发展进程中的重要一步。

Today’s A.I. systems, like chatbots, learn primarily from analyzing vast quantities of digital data culled from the internet and elsewhere. But humanoid robots will increasingly learn by interacting with people and objects in the physical world.

当今的人工智能系统（例如聊天机器人），主要是通过分析从互联网及其他渠道收集的海量数字数据来进行学习。但人形机器人将越来越多地通过在物理世界中与人和物体的互动来学习。

That emerging field is known as “embodied A.I.” or “physical A.I.” Self-driving cars are one application, but humanoid robots are expected to operate in more varied and unpredictable environments — from factories and warehouses to stores and, eventually, homes.

这个新兴领域被称为“具身人工智能”或“物理人工智能”。自动驾驶汽车是其中一种应用，但人形机器人有望在更加多样化和不可预测的环境中运行——从工厂、仓库到商店，最终甚至进入家庭。

For technology companies, humanoids represent an emerging market for chips and software. Jensen Huang, the chief executive of American chip giant Nvidia, has declared physical A.I. as the “next frontier” for artificial intelligence.

对于科技企业而言，人形机器人代表了芯片和软件领域的一个新兴市场。美国芯片巨头英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋已宣布，物理人工智能是人工智能的“下一个前沿领域”。

In June, Nvidia announced a partnership with Unitree to build a research robot. Unitree will supply the mechanical body and Nvidia the digital brain — a specialized A.I. chip designed specifically for a robot.

今年6月，英伟达宣布与宇树合作研发一款研究型机器人。宇树将提供机械躯干，英伟达则提供“数字大脑”——一款专为机器人设计的特殊人工智能芯片。

Demand for humanoid robots, some analysts predict, could accelerate over the next several years. A recent report from CLSA, an investment research firm, forecasts that the global market will reach $69 billion by 2030, up from roughly $2 billion this year.

一些分析师预测，对人形机器人的需求在未来几年内可能会加速增长。投资研究公司中信里昂证券近期的一份报告预测，到2030年，全球市场规模将从今年的约20亿美元增至690亿美元。

Adoption is expected to unfold in stages stretched over decades, according to the report. Manufacturers, particularly automakers, are likely to be the first large customers, followed by service and retail industries before eventual household use.

报告指出，这一普及过程预计将分阶段展开，跨越数十年。制造商（尤其是汽车制造商）很可能成为首批大客户，紧接着是服务业和零售业，最终才进入家庭使用阶段。

Looking further out, Morgan Stanley estimates the humanoid robot market could exceed $5 trillion by 2050, with as many as one billion models in operation worldwide. Those projections remain highly speculative but illustrate investors’ grandiose visions for the sector.

放眼更长远的未来，摩根士丹利估计，到2050年，人形机器人市场规模可能超过5万亿美元，全球或将有高达10亿台机器人投入运作。这些估计虽仍然具有高度推测性，但也体现了投资者对该领域的宏大愿景。

In its offering prospectus, Unitree identifies uncertainty over U.S. trade policy as a risk. The company also warned that intensifying competition and softer demand slowed growth in the first quarter of 2026.

在招股说明书中，宇树科技将美国贸易政策的不确定性列为一项风险。该公司还警告称，日益激烈的竞争和疲软的需求已导致2026年第一季度增长放缓。

Revenue still rose 68 percent from a year earlier. Profit fell 55 percent, hit by competitive pressure but also increased spending on research and development.

尽管如此，其营收依然同比增长了68%。受竞争压力以及研发支出增加的双重影响，利润下降了55%。

Most of Unitree’s biggest rivals are domestic, including Agibot, UBTech, Leju Robotics, EngineAI and Fourier Intelligence. UBTech went public in Hong Kong in late 2023 and now has a market capitalization of $5.6 billion. Unitree is the first humanoid robotics company to list in mainland China.

宇树科技最大的竞争对手大多来自中国国内，包括智元机器人、优必选、乐聚机器人、众擎机器人和傅利叶智能。优必选于2023年底在香港上市，目前市值达56亿美元。宇树则是首家在中国大陆上市的人形机器人公司。

American competitors — including Agility Robotics, Figure AI, Apptronik, 1X Technologies and Boston Dynamics, which is owned by the South Korean carmaker, Hyundai Motor — are also racing to develop humanoid robots. Tesla, which was named as a competitor in Unitree’s prospectus, has said it eventually aims to produce one million humanoid robots annually.

美国的竞争对手包括 Agility Robotics、Figure AI、Apptronik、1X Technologies，以及韩国汽车制造商现代汽车旗下的波士顿动力，它们也在竞相开发人形机器人。被宇树科技在招股书中列为竞争对手的特斯拉曾表示，其最终目标是实现每年生产100万台人形机器人。

For now, Tesla and most American robot makers are proceeding cautiously, focusing on technological refinement before mass production.

目前而言，特斯拉以及大多数美国机器人制造商正在谨慎推进，专注于在投入量产前进行技术打磨。

China, however, is moving faster toward mass production. Chinese manufacturers shipped roughly 18,500 humanoid robots in the first half of this year, compared with about 4,000 by U.S. companies, according to Omdia. Unitree’s products range from less than $5,000 to more than $150,000, spanning industrial, educational and consumer markets.

然而，中国在迈向量产方面步伐更快。根据Omdia的数据，今年上半年中国制造商交付了约1.85万台人形机器人，而美国公司交付量约为4000台。宇树科技的产品价格从3.5万元以下到100万元以上不等，覆盖工业、教育和消费级市场。

For now, however, dazzling demonstrations remain easier than building a business. Much of today’s industrial demand consists of pilot projects, training robots to sort, move and assemble parts. Fully autonomous teams of humanoids are still years away.

不过就现状来看，进行令人眼花缭乱的演示仍比建立商业模式要容易得多。当前的大部分工业需求仍停留在试点项目上，即训练机器人对零件进行分拣、移动和组装。要实现完全自主的人形机器人团队运作，还需要数年时间。

A kung fu performance can showcase what humanoid robots are capable of. Whether it points to a mass market is another question.

一场功夫表演固然能展示人形机器人具备怎样的能力，但它是否能够指向大众市场则是另外一回事。

“It’s not clear yet where the large-scale consumption of humanoid robots will be,” Mr. Su of Omdia said.

“目前尚不清楚人形机器人的大规模消费场景究竟在哪里，”Omdia的苏廉节说。