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Robot components: suppliers

Who makes robot actuators, gearboxes, sensors, cameras and onboard computers, with country of origin and example products.

What is inside a robot

A humanoid robot or an industrial cobot is in practice an assembly of components from a dozen or so different manufacturers, not one monolithic product from a single company. Four groups of parts decide what a robot can do.

Actuators and gearboxes drive every joint. Industrial arms are dominated by precision strain wave gears (Harmonic Drive) and cycloidal gears (Nabtesco), which deliver zero backlash and the high torsional stiffness needed for repeatable motion. In the legs of quadrupeds and humanoids, cheaper quasi-direct-drive actuators from Chinese companies such as CubeMars and MyActuator are increasingly used, lowering the entry cost of this robot category. We cover the three main drive types and their effect on a robot's cost in more depth in “Actuators in Humanoid Robots”; why the number of joints (and their drives) matters at all is explained in “Degrees of Freedom (DOF) in Humanoid Robots”.

Sensing includes depth cameras (Intel RealSense, Orbbec), LiDAR for navigation (Hesai, Ouster, SICK, Hokuyo), tactile sensors in the hands (Xela Robotics) and inertial sensors for keeping balance (Xsens). Without this layer, a robot neither "sees" its surroundings nor feels contact with an object.

Onboard computers, most often from the NVIDIA Jetson family, process images and control motion in real time. They run the AI models responsible for perception and motion planning.

Market analyses agree that the actuators with gearboxes account for the largest share of a humanoid's material cost, ahead of sensing and the battery. Estimates range from about a quarter to more than half of the cost, depending on the analysis and the definition, so we give a range, not a single figure. The method for calculating total cost is in “Humanoid Robot TCO: How to Calculate Total Cost”, and the prices of finished robots are compared in the price index.

Knowing this supply chain helps gauge the real barrier to entry for new robot makers. A company without its own actuator factory can today assemble a working prototype almost entirely from off-the-shelf components bought from the suppliers on the list below, just as many Chinese humanoid startups described elsewhere on this site do.

Below is the full list of 33 suppliers active in these four categories, used by the makers of the robots described in the other parts of this site.

Actuators

  • CubeMars

    China

    • Brushless outrunner servo motors (AK series)
    • Quasi-direct-drive actuators for the leg joints of quadruped and humanoid robots

    cubemars.com

  • Moog

    USA

    • Precision servo valves
    • Electric rotary actuators
    • Motion-control systems for industrial and aerospace robotics

    moog.com

  • MyActuator

    China

    • Quasi-direct-drive actuators (RMD series) for the joints of quadruped and humanoid robots

    myactuator.com

  • ROBOTIS (Dynamixel)

    South Korea

    • Smart Dynamixel servos
    • Modular actuators for research robots and small humanoids

    robotis.com

  • SteadyWin

    China

    • High-performance servo motors/actuators for humanoid robot legs and robot arms

    steadywin.cn

  • mjbots

    USA

    • Open-source quasi-direct-drive actuators (moteus) for quadruped robotics

    mjbots.com

Gearboxes

Motors and drives

Sensors

Cameras

LiDAR

  • Hesai

    China

    • Three-dimensional LiDAR sensors for autonomous mobile and humanoid robots

    hesaitech.com

  • Hokuyo

    Japan

    • Laser scanners/LiDAR for navigation and collision avoidance of mobile robots

    hokuyo-aut.jp

  • Ouster

    USA

    • Digital 3D LiDAR sensors for robotics and autonomous navigation

    ouster.com

  • SICK

    Germany

    • Laser safety scanners
    • LiDAR
    • Sensing for mobile robots and industrial automation

    sick.com

Onboard computing

Grippers and end effectors

Other components

Frequently asked questions

What is a humanoid robot made of?

Four main groups of components: actuators with gearboxes (joints and motion), sensing (cameras, LiDAR, tactile and inertial sensors), an onboard computer for AI processing, and batteries. Most robot makers do not build these parts themselves; they buy them from the specialist suppliers described in this section.

Which component of a humanoid robot is the most expensive?

Usually the actuators with gearboxes: they are the largest single block of material cost, ahead of sensing, compute and the battery. Estimates depend on the analysis and on what is counted as the actuator: from about a quarter to more than half of the material cost. There is no single accepted figure, so treat any number as an estimate.

Do the suppliers on this list sell directly to Poland?

Most are component manufacturers that sell worldwide through industrial distributor networks, not directly to end users. Polish integrators usually buy these parts through local automation distributors, or get them built into ready-made arms and robots bought from the manufacturers described in the other sections of this site.