EARLIER this month, Agibot, a robotics company specializing in embodied intelligence, officially launched in Malaysia, marking the first in a series of strategic initiatives planned across the Asia-Pacific region in 2026.
Founded in 2023, Agibot develops embodied intelligent robots designed to learn, adapt and operate in real-world environments. In 2025, the company reached several milestones underscoring its position in humanoid robotics and embodied intelligence. These included the rollout of its 5,168th mass-produced humanoid robot, demonstrating industrial-grade manufacturing capability and large-scale commercial readiness. Agibot also advanced embodied AI through real-world reinforcement learning, enabling robots to be trained and deployed directly in physical production environments.
Agibot was ranked No. 1 globally by Omdia’s General-Purpose Embodied Intelligent Robot 2026 report, shipping more than 5,100 units and capturing a 39-percent share of the global market.
In an interview with The Manila Times, Abel Deng, president for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at Agibot, discussed the origins and applications of humanoid AI, as well as the role of human workers alongside humanoid robots.
The Manila Times (TMT): Can you tell us more about humanoid robots as opposed to AI, their origins and their uses?
Abel Deng (Deng): At Agibot, we specialize in integrating AI and robotics to create general-purpose embodied robot products and an application ecosystem. Agibot offers a portfolio of embodied robotic products designed for diverse real-world scenarios.
The Agibot A2 series consists of full-sized humanoids optimized for multimodal interaction and autonomous navigation, making them suitable for guided presentations, showroom environments and public-space services. The Agibot X2 series features half-sized, compact humanoids capable of natural human interaction, humanlike walking and expressive movements, designed for entertainment, research and education. The Agibot G2 series focuses on industrial-grade applications, combining interactive intelligence with precise force-controlled manipulation for rapid deployment in industrial environments.
The lineup is complemented by the Agibot D1 quadruped robots for inspection and operations in complex environments, as well as OmniHand, a dexterous manipulation system for embodied robotic platforms.
Our advantages are built on three main aspects. First, we design humanoid robots around real-world business and industrial scenarios rather than singular tasks. Second, we have developed a unified “one platform, three intelligences” framework that allows motion, interaction and manipulation capabilities to be reused across different products and scenarios instead of being developed from scratch each time. A key strength is enabling robots not only to move, but also to understand human intent. Through natural communication and interaction, users can express goals directly to the robot, allowing it to integrate into operational workflows.
Finally, we prioritize manufacturing quality, safety and long-term reliability as part of our product design.
TMT: Are they alternatives to AI?
Deng: Agibot humanoid robots are not intended to replace large language model-based AI platforms such as ChatGPT or Gemini. They represent a different form of AI with a distinct training paradigm.
Large language models are trained primarily on massive text and multimodal datasets, focusing on language understanding and generation. In contrast, embodied intelligence learns through physical perception, action and real-world feedback. Embodied AI operates in closed loops involving sensing, decision-making and physical execution, continuously improving through interaction with the environment and with humans. As a result, these forms of AI are complementary rather than interchangeable.
TMT: How do humans — workers and managers, for instance — interact with humanoid robots?
Deng: Agibot humanoid robots are designed to collaborate with humans in real-world environments, both at home and in the workplace. For consumers, humanoid robots represent a new type of intelligent service experience rather than a replacement for human workers.
On the commercial side, our robots focus on eight key applications, including reception and hospitality, entertainment and commercial performances, industrial intelligent manufacturing, logistics sorting, security inspection and patrol, data collection and training, scientific research and education.
