Noetix’s RMB9,998 Humanoid Robot Is Only the Beginning

Noetix Robotics priced its Bumi humanoid at RMB9,998, a level usually reserved for research laboratories, corporate demonstrations and costly showcases. Launched in October 2025, Bumi was aimed at programming education and companionship, letting children program movements, watch it dance and interact with a small humanoid.

The strategy reflected a larger choice: Noetix would first make the body affordable and capable enough to sell, then add more sophisticated intelligence. Three years after founding, it is pursuing higher deliveries, investing in embodied-intelligence models and seeking overseas customers. Media reports in October said it had confidentially filed a Hong Kong listing application, potentially targeting a 2027 flotation.

The question is whether the hardware business Noetix built first can provide enough customers, experience and cash to support what comes next.

Founder Jiang Zheyuan left doctoral studies at Tsinghua University in 2023 and established Noetix that September. His early technical priority was the robot’s body and motion control—the machinery and software that let it balance, move and respond reliably. Noetix focused on hardware first while AI approaches changed rapidly and manufacturing readiness remained a bottleneck.

Low cost was part of the engineering brief. Jiang said Bumi used composite materials to reduce dependence on metal structures, and the price was designed in rather than left for sales negotiations. Parents and schools could buy a programmable humanoid for education and interaction without waiting for general-purpose domestic labor to become commercially viable.

Building an athletic machine differs from building one that can decide what to do in an unfamiliar room.