The cheapest robot you can actually buy, by category — October 2026 index
No new pricing event cleared our bar in the last 48 hours, so here is a snapshot of the index instead: where the entry point sits in each category. We count only models with a public price and a for-sale or pre-order tag; quote-only and not-for-sale robots are excluded, because a price you cannot act on is not an entry point.
| Category | Buyable, priced models | Cheapest (USD) | Median of listed minimums |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humanoid | 35 | $2,490 (FF Nova, pre-order) | $21,800 |
| Quadruped | 12 | $1,400 (Vbot SuperDog) | $7,680 |
| Industrial arm | 14 | $599 (Elephant myCobot 280) | $17,500 |
| Service | 26 | $399 (Microduck, pre-order) | $15,000 |
| Exoskeleton | 5 | $1,495 (Ekso Evo) | $2,299 |
| AMR | 2 | $18,800 (Pudu T300) | n/a (two models) |
How to read it
Humanoids. The $2,490 floor is a small desktop-class robot sold in an invite-only first batch, so the more meaningful floor for a full-size machine is the Unitree R1 at $4,150, followed by the Booster K1 at $5,999. The median sits near $21,800, but the spread runs past $100,000, which is why a single “humanoid price” is a poor number. Our humanoid price ladder breaks the tiers out.
Quadrupeds. The cheapest three — Vbot SuperDog, Unitree Go2 at $1,600 and Xiaomi CyberDog 2 at $1,800 — are all consumer or education class. Industrial quadrupeds start in the tens of thousands, and the top listed ranges exceed $75,000.
Arms. The $599 floor is a desktop educational arm, not a production cobot. The UFactory xArm 6 at $8,849 is a more realistic entry for light industrial work; standard cobots cluster well above that.
AMRs. Only two models carry a public price, so there is no market median to speak of — most warehouse robots are quote-only.
Caveats
Minimums are list prices at the stated configuration. They exclude shipping, duties, software packages and service contracts, and the FCC’s July rules on new foreign-produced robots may affect which models reach US buyers (see our coverage). Medians use each model’s lowest listed price, so they understate what a fully equipped unit costs.
Browse every model with its availability tag in the full index.