As the Spring Festival approaches, humanoid robots have suddenly become the busiest "performers." "Schedules are basically fully booked for the Spring Festival. Based on operational data from the past two months, a single robot can secure around 10 orders per month on average, with an average price of 2,500 RMB, allowing for a payback period of 6 to 8 months," said Shi Jian, one of the first city partners for the robot rental platform Qingtian Zu, on February 13th. Following a surge in popularity in 2025, the humanoid robot sector continues to experience high demand. The rental market is not only facing a situation of "demand outstripping supply," but products from several humanoid robotics companies are also expected to perform on the Spring Festival Gala, the event with the largest audience during the holiday, potentially pushing this wave of technological spectacle to new heights.
Qingtian Zu was jointly initiated by companies like Zhiyuan Robot and Feikuo Technology. It currently covers approximately 50 cities, with service scenarios expanding to 16 types including corporate annual meetings, exhibitions, and weddings, and has a dispatchable robot fleet exceeding 3,000 units. Data from Qingtian Zu shows that as of February 12th, the platform had accumulated over 1,000 orders covering the Spring Festival holiday period. Based on current orders and bookings, the platform's total Gross Merchandise Volume during the entire holiday is projected to increase by 80% compared to the previous period. By the end of the holiday, cumulative orders on the platform are expected to surpass 5,000.
Behind the buzz lies a typical traffic-driven business logic. Similar to drones and DSLR cameras years ago, robots are being rapidly packaged into a "consumable tech experience" through rentals. The demand structure is highly fragmented, encompassing media filming, brand promotion, corporate events, and experiences for tech enthusiasts. Clients prioritize "visual impact" and "novelty" over underlying algorithms or hardware specifications. In most scenarios, robots function more as high-tech ambiance creators, tasked with generating attention. This aligns with the inherent advantages of the rental model. Compared to direct purchase, renting transforms a substantial one-time capital expenditure into a manageable operating cost while mitigating depreciation risks associated with rapid technological iteration. Data from DataInsightsMarket indicates the global robot rental services market is undergoing robust growth, projected to reach $50.3 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.2% expected between 2025 and 2033.
For operators seeking profits from robot rentals, the current period may present a favorable opportunity. "In practice, the payback period can be even shorter due to platform subsidies and our own off-platform orders," Shi Jian noted.
Who is renting these robots? Current market trends indicate the initial clientele are not factories or industrial parks, but entities requiring traffic and话题, such as event organizers. "Clients include media, tech enthusiasts, corporate annual meetings, and commercial promotions—the scenarios are very diverse," Shi Jian explained. A latest research report from Soochow Securities also pointed out that reviewing the overall humanoid robot industry development in 2025, while there were significant large-scale orders, downstream applications primarily came from government projects, data collection, and lifestyle service scenarios.
Rental platforms are intentionally stratifying their offerings. On one end are standardized, low-threshold experience products. Qingtian Zu's "999 RMB Public Robot Experience Plan," covering fixed scenarios like New Year greetings, marriage proposals, and parent-child interaction, is priced low enough to be highly shareable. Data shows orders for this plan account for approximately 15% of the platform's total transaction volume. Such products function similarly to "loss leaders," rapidly educating the market, lowering the barrier to decision-making, and transforming robots from "expensive equipment" into "experience-able consumer goods." On the other hand, there is demand for high-complexity, high-exposure scenarios. These individual transactions command higher prices, driving the platform's overall Average Order Value up by about 15% compared to the previous period.
Geographical distribution is also showing a diffusion pattern. Data indicates that first-tier cities like Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen remain the primary locations for high-value orders and complex scenarios. However, new first-tier cities such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing are seeing significant order volume growth, and even third- and fourth-tier cities like Fuyang are appearing prominently in order rankings. Li Liheng, Co-President of Qingtian Zu and Head of City Partner Strategy, stated, "There is still a vast, untapped market on the demand side, requiring partners to cover the 'last mile.' Once the initial entry point is opened, the funnel effect will gradually emerge." Li Liheng, the architect of Qingtian Zu's partner strategy and also the first Dean of Alibaba's Zhonggong "Iron Army," expressed his ambition to "build another 'Iron Army' here, dedicated to the front lines, defining this new industry with the best service."
To some extent, robot rental is not purely a technology business, but rather a channel business. The equipment itself is rapidly becoming commoditized. What truly determines scale is who can capture scenario entry points faster and convert "spectator interest" into "long-term cooperation."
Despite the "rent-don't-buy" model lowering the barrier to trial, it hasn't automatically brought industry order. Following a period of chaotic rental frenzy in 2025, the humanoid robot rental market has not yet become standardized despite the emergence of rental platforms. Behind the Spring Festival boom lies a concurrent increase in complaints and disputes: chaotic pricing systems, simplistic and crude contract terms, discrepancies between advertised and actual equipment condition, and frequent disputes over deposit refunds. The industry lacks unified standards, with clear norms missing for equipment acceptance, fault response, and liability boundaries. Some small and medium-sized vendors lack professional maintenance teams, leading to prolonged售后 response cycles; some used robots have almost no guarantee system, with模糊划分 of responsibilities.
A senior internet observer noted that the current participant structure in the robot rental market is complex. "Many small companies, even individuals, unrelated to the core rental business are involved. Some invest hundreds of thousands to purchase a single unit, renting it out for thousands or even over ten thousand RMB per day. The entire industry is of mixed quality. Once problems occur, there's a lack of systematic after-sales support." The issue is not insufficient demand, but rather the immaturity of organizational capabilities on the supply side. In the absence of unified service standards, pricing relies more on individual bargaining power, and fulfillment quality depends on personal experience. Robots are highly complex devices involving hardware stability, software scheduling, on-site debugging, and handling unexpected failures. Without standards, risks are quickly amplified.
The observer believes the industry needs platforms with capital and technical capability to establish a system: defining equipment grading standards, rental procedures, price ranges, fault response timeframes, and liability attribution, thereby productizing and modularizing what is currently a highly non-standardized service. Only when service details are quantifiable, priceable, and accountable can the market form stable expectations. Wang Mingfeng, Chief Strategy Officer of Qingtian Zu, similarly pointed out that many have spontaneously entered the market, but the industry is fragmented, disordered, and messy, with opaque pricing, absent service standards, and uncontrollable satisfaction. The city partner strategy is designed to打通 the "last mile of embodied intelligence." On one hand, it uses local density to reach and unearth new demand; on the other hand, it provides local fulfillment assurance, aiming to build trust between supply and demand through a service rating system.
From the platform's perspective, robot rental resembles infrastructure development more than short-term traffic arbitrage. Li Liheng stated bluntly that robot rental is not a traffic business where burning money builds a moat. It is a capabilities business—system, operations, fulfillment, service—all aspects need high scores on average, akin to e-commerce platforms building their own logistics networks, requiring long-term nurturing.
Furthermore, the lack of an industry credit system is a短板 that needs addressing in the next phase. It has been suggested to promptly promote unified industry service standards, clarify equipment performance grading, fault response times, deposit and compensation rules, and incorporate these into standardized contract templates. Services must transition from "project-based" to "productized," with clear pricing and transparent terms to avoid ambiguous quotes and hidden fees.
If the Spring Festival hype proves demand exists, what truly determines the industry's trajectory is the ability to establish a replicable, scalable trust mechanism. The endgame for robot rental lies not in traffic, but in order.