How China’s US$150,000 robotic start-up beat Tesla boss Elon Musk in 2 years
EngineAI robot delivers forceful Bruce Lee-style kicks, while Musk’s Optimus jogs a few steps and falls over while handing out water bottle
The odds seemed impossible: a shoestring Chinese start-up founded in 2023 with just 1 million yuan (US$142,000) taking on Elon Musk – tech legend, disrupter in space and CEO of Tesla – who is valued at half a trillion dollars.
But in less than two years, EngineAI Robotics, led by CEO Zhao Tongyang, created the T800 – a robot that delivers Bruce Lee-style roundhouse kicks with the force of a small car – and, under the instruction of smiling engineers and scientists, tried it first on the boss himself.
That is why when Musk’s Optimus recently “set a personal record” by jogging a few steps, Chinese web users shrugged and laughed. The scepticism deepened when, during a live demo, Optimus fell backwards while trying to hand over a water bottle.
EngineAI launched its first model, the SA01, last year. Its T800, which boasts 450 Newton metres of peak torque, humanlike dexterity, and a solid-state battery enabling four to five hours of intense operation, will be ready for mass production by 2026.
Backed by China’s vast engineering talent pool and the Pearl River Delta’s plug-and-play supply chains, start-ups like EngineAI are turning sci-fi into reality at breakneck speed.
While American robots remain mostly in labs, Chinese firms are field-testing theirs across stadiums, factories and martial arts arenas in an industrial revolution fuelled by scale, speed and system.
Tesla’s Optimus team released a four-second video on platform X last Wednesday showing its humanoid robot “Optimus” running, claiming it had set a new “personal record”.
However, many Chinese viewers responded bluntly, stating that “it seems unremarkable” or “there have been too many similar products before this”.
When it comes to humanoid robots, Chinese audiences have grown accustomed to a dazzling array of promotional claims.
Numerous Chinese robotics companies have long mastered running gaits for their robots, even breaking into public awareness through topics like robot marathons and robot sports competitions.
More recently, the focus has shifted towards more complex movements such as dancing and martial arts – for example, the roundhouse kick performed by EngineAI’s T800.
Some viewers defended Optimus, arguing that “Kung fu moves are preprogrammed, which is very different from AI acting autonomously and adapting on the fly.”
But whether Optimus possessed true autonomous capability soon faced more direct scepticism.
During a demonstration titled “Autonomy Visualised” in Miami on December 8, Optimus lost its balance and fell backwards while trying to hand a bottle of water to an audience member.
The way it collapsed however, closely resembled the movements of a human operator removing a VR headset, fuelling suspicions that it was remotely controlled rather than operating autonomously.
The incident drew relentless mockery online. One user quipped, “Musk estimated Optimus would cost around 20,000 US dollars – does that include the necessary remote operator and supporting equipment, or are those extra?”
Such questions touch on a core issue: if even a basic task like handing over a bottle requires real-time human teleoperation, Optimus still has a long way to go before realising Musk’s vision of a general-purpose robot.
In contrast, robotics companies rooted in China’s manufacturing ecosystems are advancing rapidly, leveraging supply chain advantages and the country’s deep engineering talent pool.
EngineAI Robotics, one of the main players in the industry, started on a shoestring budget.
“When the company launched in 2023, its total start-up capital – including help from friends – was only between one and two million yuan,” founder Zhao Tongyang said in an interview in February.
Despite having only enough resources to hire junior engineers, the company insisted on developing both its hardware and software entirely in-house.
At the time, Tesla’s Optimus was already capable of visual-based object classification, enjoyed far greater research and development funding and commanded global attention.
EngineAI’s first product was the bipedal robot SA01, which entered the market at an industry-low price of 38,500 yuan in 2024.
Zhao attributed the cost control to the complete supply chain and strong manufacturing capabilities of China’s Pearl River Delta region.
“We designed core components and placed orders directly with factories, significantly reducing procurement costs,” he said.
Earlier this month, EngineAI released its new-generation humanoid robot, the T800, whose peak torque of 450 N·m exceeds many household car engines, and features humanlike hands capable of picking up a light bulb.
Powered by a high-performance solid-state battery, its overall physical performance surpasses that of 90 per cent of adult males, giving it genuine productivity attributes, at a starting price of 180,000 yuan.
Launching the T800, EngineAI also announced it had entered commercial mass production, with small-batch deliveries expected to start next year.
The company has its own production line in Shenzhen and also plans to build a global manufacturing centre in Zhengzhou, Henan province, capitalising on the collaborative efficiency and rapid responsiveness of domestic supply chains.
This tight integration from design to manufacturing speeds up development and cuts costs.
In contrast, during a shareholders’ meeting on November 6, Musk said that the Optimus production line would launch next year, with an estimated price tag of US$20,000 to US$30,000.
While Tesla still holds advantages in brand power, funding and AI expertise, Chinese teams have a clear edge in getting robots built quickly and affordably.
Industry analysts note that China’s robotics companies benefit from a strong supply chain and plenty of engineers. This lets them develop and launch products faster and cheaper.
“China’s strong industrial base formed through previous accumulation provides a reliable supply chain, while its deep pool of AI and robotics talent gives the country key advantages in developing humanoid robots,” Wu Yiming, a researcher at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told state-run Guangming Daily.
Beyond industrial and supply chain advantages, China also benefits from diverse application scenarios and strong market demand.
“Rich industrial activities have accumulated multi-industry data, providing a broad testing ground, data foundation and market space for the development of humanoid robots,” Xu Man, a senior engineer at the Chinese Institute of Electronics, told the paper.