2025 is called the “first year of mass production of humanoid robots” by many industry insiders. This judgment is not groundless, and the signals from the industrial chain have begun to clearly appear.
Taking Kinco, a core component supplier, as an example, the company disclosed that the order scale of a certain humanoid robot customer for motors last year was between hundreds and thousands of units, but this year it has rapidly jumped to “tens of thousands of units” – the explosive growth of the order volume is reflecting the rapid expansion of the entire industry.
In highly integrated and precisely controlled systems such as humanoid robots, motors, as key execution units, are as important as “hearts”. There are many types of motors, among which hollow cup motors and frameless torque motors are widely used in the field of humanoid robots, providing strong support for the robot’s motion performance. Frameless torque motors, with their compact size, large output torque, and high efficiency, are gradually becoming the mainstream choice for humanoid robot joint drives.
This article will focus on the core component of humanoid robots – frameless torque motors, sort out the current domestic listed companies with technical strength and market layout in this field, and observe how this key component supports the underlying power of the “first year of mass production”.
Leadshine
Established in 1997, Leadshine is a world-renowned brand and industry-leading enterprise in the field of intelligent equipment motion control. Since 2018, Leadshine has proactively laid out the robotics industry, especially in the AGV/AMR and collaborative robot market segments, and outputs tens of thousands of servo system solutions every year.
By the end of 2023, a series of core products such as high-density frameless torque motors have been successfully developed, and the FM2 series of ultra-high-density frameless motors, RM series robot joint modules, LD3mini micro servo drives, and brushless hollow cup motors have been launched one after another. Downstream customers cover humanoid robots, collaborative robots, medical, joint modules, general automation and other fields. At present, its frameless torque motors have obtained several large-scale commercial orders, with a cumulative supply of more than 10,000 units.
Dingzhi Technology
Recently, Dingzhi Technology has stated at a performance briefing that the humanoid robot part products are currently in the research and development and sample testing stage, and have not yet been supplied in large quantities, and there is great uncertainty in future development. However, the company has emphasized that it is “actively improving the layout of the humanoid robot product platform.”
In terms of motors, the company has deployed hollow cup motors, frameless motors, etc.; in terms of transmission, the company has deployed precision reducers, T-type screws, ball screws, and planetary roller screws; in addition, the company has developed a series of robot integrated planetary module products suitable for robot arm application scenarios, as well as DC reduction motor products suitable for scenarios such as dexterous hands. “The company has cooperated with many domestic and foreign humanoid robot industry chain customers in an orderly manner.”
HCFA
It has deep technical accumulation in the field of humanoid robots. Its independently developed frameless torque motor has excellent performance and plays a key role in the joint drive of the “YOLO Youlong 01” universal humanoid robot. It can accurately control the robot’s movements, making it more flexible and stable.
The third generation Hu-MDB series frameless torque motors were launched, with high torque density, small size and lightweight as the core design goals, and benchmarked against the performance indicators of the industry’s first-line benchmark products. The three core components of actuator power, transmission, and perception (frameless torque motor, harmonic reducer/planetary roller screw, encoder) are highly integrated. The key performance indicators of the products are excellent, with high thrust/torque density, high output accuracy, and fast response speed. The entire series of products can fully cover the power requirements of humanoid robots’ whole body joints.
VEICHI
The company provides large supporting solutions for various types of robots including humanoid robots, and has deployed frameless torque motors and other products. Its FT1 series frameless torque motors can be used in humanoid robots, co-robots, mobile robots and other fields.
In addition to frameless torque motors, hollow cup motor modules, ultra-high power density drivers, hollow encoders and other products are also deployed. Based on the future development prospects of humanoid robots in the industrial field in the global market, the VEICHI joint venture was established to create highly competitive mechatronic core component products, such as rotary joint modules (harmonic/planetary), linear joint modules, etc.
Haozhi
The company’s products include controllers, harmonic reducers, DD motors, drivers, encoders, six-dimensional torque sensors, robot joint modules, end actuators, etc. Independent research and development has overcome key technologies such as “high-performance harmonic reducers”, “high-precision encoders”, “integrated joint modules”, “six-dimensional force sensors”, and “control systems”, achieving national production. Its frameless torque motors and other products can be applied to humanoid robots, and are used in the massage robots of its affiliated company Haozhi Biotech, and have generated certain revenue.
Wolong
The company has currently completed the integration of frameless torque motors, reducers, encoders, control boards, control software and joint mechanical components, and designed and trial-produced a complete universal joint module. Wolong’s frameless torque motors and joint modules have been sent to many robot customers for sample testing, and some customers have formed small batch orders.
Wolong signed a cooperation agreement with AgiBot to provide it with core components such as high-explosive joint modules, servo drives, frameless torque motors, and participate in its mass production plan, indirectly held 0.1525% of Unitree’s equity through Goldstone Investment, becoming the motor and drive system supplier of Unitree’s humanoid robot H1, jointly developed the “NAVIAI-i2” humanoid robot with Zhejiang Innovation Center for Humanoid Robotics, and conducted practical training and verification at Lenovo AI factory.
INOVANCE
Founded in 2003, INOVANCE focuses on automation, digitalization, and intelligence in the industrial field, focusing on the core technologies of “information layer, control layer, drive layer, execution layer, and sensor layer”, and is a leader in domestic industrial automation control and drive technology.
INOVANCE officially entered the humanoid robot track in 2024, quickly established a humanoid robot business team, and launched the competitiveness construction and development of multiple core components, and developed high-performance joint component prototypes required by humanoid robots, including low-voltage high-power drives, frameless torque motors and modules, planetary roller screws, etc. At the same time, INOVANCE has also initially built an ecological chain for the humanoid robot business, and has established connections with some general humanoid robot manufacturers and industrial customers around the performance and competitiveness of humanoid robot parts and components.
Jiangsu Leili
On May 28, Jiangsu Leili responded to investors’ questions on the interactive platform and said that as a supplier of micromotors and components, the company had attached great importance to the research and development of products related to humanoid robot parts, with the goal of achieving technology upgrades and mass production cost control. The company has independently developed hollow cup motors, precision gearboxes, T-type lead screws, ball screws, planetary roller screws, frameless torque motors and other products, and will continue to deploy high-precision sensors, encoders and drive control components through foreign investment, industrial cooperation and other means. In linear joints, the company has launched a number of linear actuator products; the company’s “lead screw + epicyclic gearbox + DC motor + encoder” components can be used in dexterous hands to achieve high-precision and high-response end operations; the company’s frameless torque motors and integrated planetary modules can be used for rotary joints.
Kinco
As a pioneer in the field of frameless torque motors in China, Kinco launched the first generation of frameless torque motors in 2016. The third-generation FMC series frameless torque motor launched in 2022 is the first frameless potting process. It has 10 frame sizes, covering 3-25kg load requirements, smaller size and lower temperature rise at the same torque. The product performance is comparable to the international first-class level. It is a supplier of Tesla humanoid robots.
It is reported that the company actively deploys the humanoid robot track, providing frameless torque motors and joint module platform components for humanoid robots. It has established cooperation with some domestic head humanoid robot customers and formed batch orders. At present, the company’s fourth-generation frameless torque motor is under development, and will be further optimized in terms of weight, process and cost. At the same time, after the fourth generation, the new generation of products has begun pre-research, which is to make more adequate preparations for future performance improvement and high cost performance.
Note:
Logistics Automation Development Strategy & the 7th International Mobile Robot Integration Application Conference Southeast Asia will be held in Concorde Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 21st August 2025. Welcome to join us.
For agenda, please click https://cnmra.com/logistics-automation-development-strategy-the-7th-international-mobile-robot-integration-application-conference-southeast-asia-21st-august-2025-concorde-hotel-kuala-lumpur-malaysia/
For registration, please click https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdGHjpHRU0mR0_2ZlqtJpUV25s3XlIIHtkkUUfxz0W6vpBqiA/viewform?usp=header
