LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions published a Patent Asset Index ranking on July 29, 2026 covering robotics startups with at least one bipedal walking robot. Chinese companies took the first five places: Fourier, AgiBot, LimX Dynamics, Pudu Robotics and Unitree. Figure AI came sixth, Germany's Agile Robots seventh, Apptronik eighth, Leju ninth and Agility Robotics tenth — six of the top ten are Chinese.
The index does not count patents. It scores them, weighting each family by measures of technical relevance and market coverage, so a portfolio can rank high on a modest number of strong filings. On that basis the ranking is a statement about the depth of Chinese filing over the past decade rather than about who ships the most robots. LexisNexis reports Chinese filings roughly doubled in interaction systems and grew about fivefold in control and planning over ten years.
The counter-number sits in the same dataset
American portfolios still score higher per patent. That is the qualification worth carrying: China leads on aggregate portfolio strength, the United States on average filing quality. Both can be true, and neither settles the commercial question. A patent is a claim on a future position, not evidence that anything has been built, sold or kept working on a customer's floor.
Portfolio strength is a claim on future position. Deployment records are the claim on the present, and the two rankings do not match. — EW analysis
Key Facts
- LexisNexis IP Solutions Patent Asset Index published July 29, 2026; scope is startups with at least one bipedal walking robot
- Top five, in order: Fourier, AgiBot, LimX Dynamics, Pudu Robotics, Unitree
- Figure AI sixth, Agile Robots seventh, Apptronik eighth, Leju ninth, Agility Robotics tenth
- Chinese filings roughly doubled in interaction systems and grew about fivefold in control and planning over the past decade
- The index weights patents by quality rather than counting them; US portfolios still score higher per patent
Why it matters
The ranking lands in a month when the commercial and political questions were pointing the other way: the FCC had just closed new foreign-made humanoids out of US equipment authorization, and Unitree — fifth on this list — was days into a Shanghai listing. Patent strength does not clear customs and does not win a purchase order. What it does do is raise the cost of designing around Chinese-held claims in interaction, control and planning, which is exactly the layer Western makers are now scaling. Buyers should read the index as a freedom-to-operate signal, not a product ranking.
Frequently Asked
Which companies rank highest?
Fourier, AgiBot, LimX Dynamics, Pudu Robotics and Unitree take the top five. Figure AI is sixth, Agile Robots seventh, Apptronik eighth, Leju ninth, Agility Robotics tenth.
Is this a count of patents?
No. The index weights patent families by technical relevance and market coverage, so portfolio quality, not filing volume, drives the ranking.
What does it not tell you?
Anything about shipments, revenue or deployment. Patents describe claimed positions, not working products or paying customers.