The summer season has ignited a boom in the robot rental market, driven by demand from mall openings, product launches, and even mountain-climbing assistance. The primary catalyst for this surge is a dramatic drop in rental prices, with daily rates for humanoid robots falling from 8,000 yuan to just over 2,000 yuan. Exoskeleton suits for hiking are available for 99 yuan for three days, and companion robots start at 200 yuan per month. Through rental services, robots are entering ordinary households, creating a rapidly expanding sector valued at tens of billions of yuan.
Robots Take Center Stage in Malls
In a shopping mall in Wuhan, Hubei province, engineer Li Yang and his team were busy installing and debugging two humanoid robots. Li noted a sharp increase in rental demand for humanoid robots during the summer, often requiring him to transport the machines to three or four different performances daily. Even with moderate foot traffic, the robots immediately drew a large crowd of shoppers who stopped to take photos. A local Wuhan resident remarked that the robots looked incredibly cool, especially their lifelike walking motion. A foreign tourist shared that they had seen a robot exhibition in Hangzhou and found it fantastic.
Robots Expand into Consumer Markets
While robot rentals were once largely confined to commercial events like mall openings, brand launches, and pop-up stores, where they performed dances, welcomed guests, and generated buzz, the consumer market is now opening up rapidly. At a digital equipment rental store in Wuhan, customer Zhang Cheng inquired about a newly available exoskeleton robot, priced at 99 yuan for three days. Staff explained that the store, which previously only rented film and photography gear, had added many new robot rental products due to strong demand. The scope of robot rentals is expanding from commercial events into areas like home companionship, hiking assistance, and AI interaction.
Top Robots Become "Mega-Employees" with 20 Bookings a Month
At a robot rental company in Wuhan, engineers were conducting final checks on robots destined for customers across the country. Most of the remaining robots in the warehouse were already booked, with some units handling about 20 performances per month. Li Xiangyu, marketing director of Wuhan Haochuangda Technology Co., Ltd., stated that these robots were being shipped to locations in Hubei, Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Guangdong. The company’s general manager reported that robot rental orders have increased by 30% year-on-year, and the range of robots has expanded from simple performing models to fighting robots, coffee-making robots, and bartending robots. To improve delivery efficiency, the company has increased its inventory in cities like Jinan, Hangzhou, and Shijiazhuang.
Daily Rental Rates Plummet from 8,000 to 2,000 Yuan
Price is the strongest driver of this market boom. Gao Wentao, general manager of Wuhan Haochuangda Technology Co., Ltd., provided a cost breakdown: from late last year to early this year, daily rental rates for humanoid robots were around 8,000 yuan, but they have since dropped to roughly 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. Delivery times have also been drastically reduced. This time last year, ordering a robot required a lead time of 45 to 60 days; now, the most popular models can be delivered immediately. According to multiple rental platforms, the most in-demand robots are companion models for voice interaction and chess, with rental fees ranging from 200 to 300 yuan per month. Meng Chao, head of brand operations at Renrenzu, disclosed that rental rates for embodied robots start at 1,999 yuan daily. The number of such robots in service has surged from just over 1,000 last year to 10,000 this year. Platform data shows that robot rental orders grew 30% month-on-month in July and 150% year-on-year in July.
"Robot Ambulances" Emerge, Shifting Focus from Hardware to Service
As the market grows, competition has shifted from hardware performance to service quality. Near a shopping mall in Beijing, a "robot ambulance" arrived to service a malfunctioning robot dog. Repair engineer Liu Jingyang quickly diagnosed and fixed the issue, restoring the robot dog to full functionality. In addition to on-site repairs, the "robot ambulance" offers services like maintenance, cleaning, and recycling. Ding Wanchuan, a repair engineer for JD Service Robots, explained that the service can quickly respond to user sites if a robot malfunctions or fails to start, with a one-minute response time and arrival within two hours. Beyond basic rental services, many robot rental companies are developing value-added services in event operations. Zhang Yingying, a robot event planning specialist, recently completed a project in Guangdong where 30 YuShu robots were rented not only for mall front-end foot traffic but also to perform a series of AI-related activities designed by her team.
153,000 Companies Enter the Fray, Accelerating a 100-Billion-Yuan Sector
Data shows that as of April 2026, the number of robot rental companies nationwide reached 153,000, with 38,200 new registrations in 2025 alone, a year-on-year increase of 55.7%. Industry insiders believe that as robot rental services expand, robots will evolve from a single "atmosphere enhancer" into a regular production and service tool, further expanding the market. Some institutions predict that the domestic robot rental market will surpass 100 billion yuan in 2026. Just as shared bikes solved the "last mile" of travel and shared power banks addressed the "last 1%" of battery anxiety, robots are now becoming "shareable," demystifying high-tech. When a robot's daily rental costs less than a weekend trip to an amusement park with a child, we know that the best technology is not remote but accessible and within reach.