Illustration: AI-generated · Inside China AI
Pudu Robotics: The Robot You Already Met Is Going Humanoid
Part of China’s Humanoid Seven — our complete guide to the seven companies that define China’s humanoid industry.
You have probably already met a Pudu robot. If a cat-faced machine has ever delivered food to your table in a restaurant in Berlin, Warsaw or Zurich, chances are it was a BellaBot. What almost nobody in Europe knows: the company behind it is now one of the world’s five strongest humanoid robotics start-ups by patent portfolio — and it is converting an installed base of more than 120,000 service robots into a springboard for the humanoid era.
The commercial robot champion
Founded in Shenzhen in 2016 by Felix Zhang, Pudu Robotics became the quiet market leader of commercial service robotics: per Frost & Sullivan, roughly a quarter of global revenue and shipments in the category — number one worldwide in both. Its delivery, cleaning and retail robots operate in around 85 countries. Unlike most humanoid start-ups, Pudu built something rare first: global distribution, service infrastructure, and customers who already trust its machines with daily operations.
From BellaBot to the D series
Pudu’s humanoid program runs under the “One Brain, Multiple Embodiments” architecture: one AI stack across many robot forms. The full-size bipedal PUDU D9 (170 cm, 42 degrees of freedom, 2 m/s walking speed) leads the line; the semi-humanoid D7 on a wheeled chassis — aimed at hotels and hospitals — made its offline debut at WAIC 2026, where Pudu also won the “Most Investor-Attractive Enterprise” award. The strategy is evolution, not revolution: humanoids enter through the service environments Pudu already dominates.
Key numbers
- 120,000+ robots deployed across ~85 countries (as of mid-2026) — the largest installed base in commercial service robotics
- Top-5 patent portfolio among humanoid start-ups worldwide (LexisNexis, July 2026)
- ~$150 million raised in April 2026 at a valuation above $1.5 billion; investors include Meituan and Shenzhen Investment Holdings
- Over 80% of revenue from overseas markets — the most international revenue mix of any company in this series; a Hong Kong listing is planned
Why Pudu matters
Every humanoid company faces the same question: who will actually buy these machines, and who will service them in the field? Pudu is the only humanoid contender that answers both questions with an existing global business. Its path — semi-humanoids entering hotels and stores where its robots already work — may prove more commercially durable than the factory-first strategies of its rivals. Watch the D7: it is the bridge product.
The European angle
Pudu is arguably the most European of China’s humanoid contenders already: a European subsidiary in the Netherlands, an exhibitor at EuroShop in Düsseldorf, BellaBots in Carrefour stores in Poland since 2022, and — announced in June 2026 — Swiss retailer Denner rolling out 200 Pudu cleaning robots chain-wide. When Pudu’s semi-humanoids arrive, they will ride on distribution, financing and service structures that already exist across Europe. For European retail and hospitality operators, the question is not whether they will encounter Pudu’s next generation — it is when.
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