Some firms in China – the early leader in humanoids and home to a growing number of rental schemes – have leased their creations to work in hotels, a helpful training ground for future domestic use. Others offer them to rent on cleaning service apps.
Chinese firms have started offering rentals overseas, through partner businesses. Among the biggest, Shanghai's Agibot says its humanoids are available for rent in 17 countries, including the UK.
However, while rentals are becoming more common, Shanghai-based Wang suspects outright humanoid purchases will dominate in China, encouraged by government incentives. He says: "There are a lot of humanoid robot orders from Chinese state-owned companies and a lot of orders driven by subsidies."
In China and elsewhere, some companies may also prefer to buy robots outright for the prestige, to learn from the technology or because it is better for their bottom line.
But for others, as robots become more sophisticated and the market grows, the convenience and affordability of a rental may be the answer.