Buying guide
Astribot S1 vs Ameca in 2026
Comparing 2 humanoid robots across availability, pricing, capabilities, and verified deployments. Current as of 2026.
Key differences
- Ameca has more verified real-world deployments (2 vs 0).
- Astribot S1 is at the research stage; Ameca at the commercial stage.
| Attribute | ||
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Stardust Intelligence | Engineered Arts |
| Form factor | humanoid | humanoid |
| Maturity | research | commercial |
| Autonomy | ◐ not independently verified | — |
| Availability | announced-no-dateannounced | shipping-nowshipping |
| Price | Not announced | $250,000 (actual sale price) |
| Capability claims |
| — |
| Brain | — | — |
| Verified deployments | 0 | 2Computer History Museum, Museum of the Future |
| Privacy practices | — | — |
| Sources on file | 6 | 11 |
Editorial summaries
Astribot S1
The Astribot S1, from China's Astribot (Shenzhen), is a research humanoid that drew wide attention for fluid bimanual manipulation demonstrations (folding clothes, pouring, handling objects). There is no verified consumer price or delivery date on record, and the manipulation footage is demonstration material, not evidence of verified autonomous deployment. DEPLOY classifies its maturity as research and applies verified-vs-claimed discipline: the demos are impressive claims; verified deployment and pricing are absent.
Ameca
Ameca, from UK-based Engineered Arts, is the famous expressive humanoid: 61 actuated movements (27 DoF head/face plus 34 DoF upper body), 50+ facial expressions, and conversational AI via the Tritium software with LLM and speech integration (Generation 3 shown at ICRA 2025). It is a stationary communication and showpiece robot, not a mobile general-purpose worker. It is commercially offered for purchase and rental at about $250,000. The expressiveness and conversation are real; what it is not is a walking, working humanoid.
Common questions
- What is the difference between Astribot S1 and Ameca?
- Astribot S1 and Ameca are both humanoid robots on the DEPLOY registry. They differ in maker, maturity, price, verified deployments, and how much of their autonomy is independently verified. See the table above for the full head-to-head; each figure is sourced.
- Is Astribot S1 or Ameca more autonomous?
- On the DEPLOY registry, neither Astribot S1 nor Ameca has capabilities independently verified as fully autonomous yet; their recorded capabilities are teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated, or vendor-claimed. See the table for each capability's verification status.
- Which has more verified deployments, Astribot S1 or Ameca?
- Ameca has more verified deployments (2) on the DEPLOY registry than Astribot S1 (0). DEPLOY counts a deployment only when confirmed at a named site with a primary source.
Recent coverage
- Chinese startup unveils $13K humanoid robot for wider accessibilityAstribot S1 · AgentRecon · 2025-07-01
- Shenzhen's Stardust Intelligence Secures Over 1B Yuan in Series BAstribot S1 · AgentRecon · 2025-06-01
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