July 28, 2026, 15:52 GMT | Insight
China has established a clear lead in the global race to develop humanoid robotics technology by the volume of its patent holdings, while US inventions continue to outperform on quality, according to a new analysis.
China has established a clear lead in the global race to develop humanoid robotics technology by the volume of its patent holdings, while US inventions continue to outperform on quality, according to a new analysis.
LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions
examined more than 26,000 patent families covering three technologies central to humanoid robots — interaction systems, morphology and control and planning architectures — and found that China's rapid growth in patent filings has produced the world's largest portfolio of humanoid robotics patents.
Rather than relying solely on patent counts, the analysis evaluates portfolios using the Patent Asset Index, a metric that measures overall portfolio strength by combining portfolio size with patent quality, including technological relevance and market coverage. According to LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions, that approach better reflects the commercial and competitive value of innovation assets than filing volumes alone.
(MLex is a division of
LexisNexis Legal and Professional, a
RELX Group company.)
Among morphology-related patents — the technology area most closely associated with human-like body structures and bipedal movement — China accounted for 73 percent of the world’s active patent portfolio and 63 percent of global portfolio strength by the end of 2025, as measured by the Patent Asset Index.
The findings reflect China's growing influence in a technology increasingly viewed as strategically important, with governments around the world stepping up support for robotics and embodied artificial intelligence as commercialization accelerates.
The analysis, however, argues that China's lead in patent volume tells only part of the story.
Although US inventors held just 5 percent of active morphology-related patent families by the end of 2025, they accounted for 11 percent of global portfolio strength and achieved the highest average patent quality across all three technology categories analyzed.
The analysis attributes that performance to the higher technological relevance and broader market coverage of US patents, suggesting that smaller portfolios can still carry significant competitive value.
The contrast between patent volume and patent quality also reshaped the country rankings. South Korea ranked second globally in 2025 by the number of morphology-related patent families, followed by Japan and the US. When portfolio strength was considered, however, the US moved into second place behind China, overtaking both Japan and South Korea.
The analysis also highlights varied innovation ecosystems across major economies.
While companies dominated humanoid robotics patent ownership in China, Japan, the US, South Korea and Germany, research institutions accounted for 39 percent of relevant portfolios in China and 36 percent in South Korea, compared with between 5 percent and 9 percent in Japan, the US and Germany.
The analysis also challenges the perception that dedicated humanoid robot developers hold the strongest intellectual property positions in the field.
"Humanoid robotics is a useful reminder that emerging technology fields rarely fit neatly into one patent class, keyword search, or company list," LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions says. It adds that humanoid robots rely on a range of enabling technologies — including AI learning models, perception systems, batteries, compact actuators, safety systems and fleet-level software infrastructure — many of which are patented as broader AI or automation technologies rather than as humanoid robotics inventions.
Among the organizations with the strongest patent portfolios across the three technology areas are industrial robotics companies
Fanuc and
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, AI companies Alphabet and
Nvidia, surgical robotics specialist Intuitive Surgical, Chinese Academy of Sciences and
Samsung.
For nine of the top 10 organizations, humanoid robotics technologies account for less than 10 percent of their overall patent portfolios, indicating that many of the strongest patent positions are held by companies whose businesses extend well beyond humanoid robotics.
Ubtech Robotics is the notable exception. More than one-quarter of the Chinese company's patent portfolio falls within the three core humanoid robotics technology areas, making it the only dedicated humanoid robotics company among the top-ranked patent holders overall.
China also dominated the startup rankings. Six of the 10 highest-ranked dedicated humanoid robotics startups by relevant patent strength were Chinese companies, led by Fourier, Agibot and LimX Dynamics. Germany's Agile Robots and US companies Figure AI, Apptronik and
Agility Robotics also appeared among the leading startups.
The analysis also comes amid growing policy support for embodied AI in China. Under the 15th Five-Year Plan, published in March (see
here), Beijing identified embodied AI as one of six "future industries" to be nurtured through 2030, alongside quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion, brain-computer interfaces and 6G.
- Analysis by Xiaoqiong GaoPlease email editors@mlex.com to contact the editorial staff regarding this story, or to submit the names of lawyers and advisers.
Tags
Sections:
Intellectual Property
Industries:
Consumer Products, Computing & Information Technology, Manufacturing, Computer Networks
Geographies:
North America, Asia, United States, China, Eastern Asia
Topics:
Patents