Research
Component economics, read from the filings.
Start with the latest research on the Physical AI stack and actuator economics. The full analysis lives in the newsletter; earlier report pages collect headline figures and exhibit data with their sources.
Manufacturing · Paid research
Can America Leapfrog Shenzhen?
What Shenzhen’s industrial ecosystem reveals about manufacturing know-how, and three ways AI could help build new capacity in the US.
Read on Core Matter
Home robotics
I Paid $60 for Two Humanoids to Clean My Home In San Francisco
What a cleaning visit revealed about the work and economics of home robotics.
Read on Core Matter
Robot data · Paid research
The Economics of Robot Data: Building the Scale AI of Robotics
The economics of turning data collection into a continuing customer relationship.
Read on Core Matter
Sensors · Paid research
The Six Senses of a Humanoid Robot
How robots see, balance and feel, who supplies the sensors, and where deployment breaks.
Read on Core Matter
Conference notes
IROS 2026: Humanoids Losing Their Legs, Selling Hands for Data, Cancer Fighting Nano-robots
What I learned from 50 conversations about robotics. The key to scaling actuators, sensors bottleneck and opportunities in unlocking deployments.
Read on Core Matter
Actuators · Paid research
What It Takes to Build America's Actuator Supply Chain
What global manufacturers reveal about production advantages, pricing pressure and the businesses behind domestic robotics supply.
Read on Core Matter
Conference notes
Robot babysitters, the BOM, and batteries
Notes from Dirty Jobs 2026.
Read on Core Matter
Actuators · Paid research
Who Makes Humanoid Robot Actuators? A Global Supplier Map
The supplier map, from the Japanese incumbents to the Chinese entrants.
Read on Core Matter
Physical AI field guide
The Physical AI Value Stack: Mapping the 11 Layers of Robotics
How data, models, hardware and deployment turn intelligence into a working robot.
Read on Core Matter
Actuators, Part 2 · Paid research
The $202 Humanoid Joint: What Actuators Actually Cost at Scale
Audited filings reveal real BOM shares, retail markups, and cost per actuated axis.
Read on Core Matter
Actuators, Part 1
The Business of Humanoid Actuators: Where Robots Pay for Torque
How gearing choices dictate supply chain economics and BOM costs.
Read on Core Matter
Earlier reports and data
Report
August 2026
Unitree's IPO roadshow, translated: what Wang Xingxing told 360 investors
The first time a profitable humanoid maker has carried a public price, and the first real pricing event for embodied AI as an asset class.
Rmb150.80 IPO price per shareRmb61bn Implied market capitalisation688836 SSE STAR Board tickerReport
July 2026
Dexterous hands primer: actuation, BOM, cost curve, and where value sits
Hand market map, actuation architectures, platform against component, spec-sheet decoding, and the buyer's selection framework.
~60% Share of Optimus engineering difficulty Musk attributes to forearm and hand72.8% Unitree humanoids shipped in 2025 with no hand at all20x Derating of NEO tendon life from nominal to 3x loadReport
June 2026
17,000 humanoids shipped last year. Almost none went to work.
China's humanoid IPO filings produced the first audited answers on who ships, who buys, and who profits.
13,000–18,000 Humanoids shipped globally in 202590 New Chinese humanoid makers entering in the last 7 months of 2025~150 Units shipped by Figure and by Agility Robotics each in 2025