‘In some jobs, they want to be replaced’: Chinese robotics company Agibot says humanoids could take over ‘dangerous’ jobs — and one day even teach children | Tech Radar
Overview
News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
Details
Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards.
Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
‘In some jobs, they want to be replaced’: Chinese robotics company Agibot says humanoids could take over ‘dangerous’ jobs — and one day even teach children
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
A Chinese robotics firm has said that some workers ‘want to be replaced’ by its humanoid robots
Agibot has launched its range of humanoid and quadruped robots in the UK B2B sector
The company's Europe and US lead also said that robots could become nurses and teachers
An executive for Chinese robotics firm Agibot has said the company believes its humanoid robots could replace certain human workers — and that “in some jobs, they want to be replaced.”
Agibot, founded in 2023 by two ex-Huawei engineers, makes humanoid, quadruped, and cleaning robots for the business-to-business (B2B) sector, advertising use cases like manufacturing, cleaning, entertainment, and construction.
The company recently rolled its 15,000th unit off the production line and announced its expansion into the UK market at an event in London on June 30.
The Agibot A3 and several X2 units opened the company's UK launch event with a dance routine (Image credit: Jamie Richards / Future)
In a press conference at the event, attended by Tech Radar, the president of Agi Bot Europe and America, William Shi, told reporters that “we’ve got to factor people doing dangerous, boring, and repeatable jobs — these kinds of jobs can be very easily replaced.”
Shi added: “For some job descriptions, they want to be replaced, because it’s very boring, very dangerous, and very high-risk — nobody wants to do this [kind of job]”.
People are warming up to robots at work - but they don't want them in hospitals or schools
Humanoid robots won’t be the future: purpose-built robots will
How Samsara wants to help even the most traditional companies adopt AI
The Agibot G2 has already seen deployment in factories in China (Image credit: Jamie Richards / Future)
Agibot's product range includes the full-sized A3 humanoid robot, the half-sized X2 humanoid robot, and the D1 range of quadruped robots (with form factors resembling dogs, though the company never describes them as such).
Though the company has just landed in the UK, its robots have been successfully deployed in manufacturing facilities in China. A recent You Tube livestream shows the G2 industrial robot ‘at work’ at the Longcheer electronics factory, where the humanoid robots are deployed alongside human employees.
Speaking about Agibot's deployment with Longcheer, Shi said: “They have a lot of workers standing for eight hours per day. They take a smartphone, turn it around, and put it in a box. And then they take the box and move to the next production phase.”
“These kinds of steps can be easily — and are expected to be — replaced by robotics,” he continued, “because that doesn’t create value or create happiness for people. They don’t learn when they do this job. They don’t invent things.”
At present, Agibot's products are not autonomous, but each is equipped with a three-part AI model, with each part controlling interaction (with people), locomotion (moving around), and manipulation (of the local environment — i.e., picking stuff up), respectively.
Alibaba reveals its most powerful AI models for robots as it looks to strike ahead in agentic race
UBTech introduced its first realistic humanoid, which it could make into replicas of loved ones
Gen Z workers are apparently deliberately sabotaging AI rollouts at work
The company is actively aiming for autonomy, powered by the collection of usage data and further AI development, but Shi emphasizes that Agibot humanoids will remain “under the control and expectation of the human.”
The Agibot X2 is clearly designed to be friendlier and more approachable than its full-size counterpart (Image credit: Jamie Richards / Future)
As well as manufacturing, Shi highlighted baristas, live entertainment workers, and even teachers and nurses as professions that could be occupied by robots: “There’s a big lack of nurses in every country, from China, to America, to Europe, and also a big lack of teachers.”
“Most of children’s questions can be responded to [by robots] — phonics, science, and mathematics questions, or even some common conversations. You ask for the weather, the humidity; you can ask these questions to all the robots, because they’re based on large language models.”
Still, there’s some distance between using Chat GPT to conduct research and allowing a humanoid robot to teach children — and according to 2025 research by KPMG and the University of Melbourne, while almost three quarters of UK adults use AI at work, less than half say they trust it.
With the B2C market a distant target for Agibot and an array of business partners — including Nvidia, which provides chipsets for the robots — backing the company's UK launch, it's clearly expecting to make big progress in B2B industries first and foremost. But Agibot isn't ruling out a future in which robots are part of our everyday lives.
“What we want in the future is that the robot can take some responsibility in daily life,” said Shi, “but they will never make the decisions instead of a human.”
Follow Tech Radar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow Tech Radar on Tik Tok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on Whats App too.
Jamie is freelance journalist who has written for Tech Radar and Music Radar as well as various specialist news outlets and music blogs. A lifelong tech-obsessive, Jamie began his writing career as a music blogger before studying journalism at Goldsmiths College, and worked at Tech Radar between 2024 and 2026. He thinks the i Phone 5S is the greatest phone of all time, but is currently an Android user.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
1 Nikon and Fujifilm have been awfully quiet in 2026 — here's what I expect to happen next
3 How to watch Canada vs Morocco: Free Streams & TV Channels
4 Dutton Ranch season 2: everything we know so far about the Yellowstone spinoff return
5 Portable USB DVD writer compatible with Android and i Phone sees 50% price cut to $39
Tech Radar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.
Key Takeaways
- News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
- Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
- Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards
- Unlock instant access to exclusive member features
- Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards
