Why Robots Won't Replace Migrants Any Time Soon
By Goldsea Staff | 16 Oct, 2025

Vice President JD Vance's suggestion that US industry can replace migrant workers with robots appears wildly fanciful in light of the few robots currently deployed around the world.

Among the funnier statements made by JD Vance on July 23 at an "All-in" podcast at the Hill & Valley Forum in response to farmers' concerns about deporting migrant workers.  

A highly unlikely scene in the coming decade.  (Image by Gemini)

"Well, there are a whole host of ways in which you can try to solve those problems," Vance said. "My favorite solution for those problems is automation. I actually think there's a lot of evidence that the American agricultural economy is a little behind the eight ball when it comes to using technology."

Unfortunately for that perspective the kind of work performed by migrant workers include, in addition to agriculture, construction, elderly care, restaurants, assembly lines, and slaughterhouses.   These are among the least likely to fall within the capabilities of robots at any time during the next decade or two, leaving millions of American businesses struggling to survive. 

Why would we say that?  The number of humanoid robots deployed to replace even fairly simple tasks is minuscule, barely in the thousands and mostly performing tasks like serving as companions or participating in research — hardly the level of skill needed to perform even the most perfunctory tasks handled by migrants. 

And for a sense of how long it takes to develop a humanoid robot, consider that Tesla launched its Optimus human robot development in August of 2021.  As of now, over four years later, the project is still in its pilot/development phase, with only a few prototypes in existence.  Judging by the history of Elon Musk promises with Tesla EVs, we aren't likely to see Optimus robots deployed in scale to perform migrant-worker-level tasks for at least a decade, probably much longer.  Unless Trump-style antipathy toward migrant workers is reversed soon, hundreds of thousands of American farms and businesses are likely to fall by the wayside long before then.

To get an accurate update on just how many robots are in actual service today, we engaged our AI researchers with the prompt:

List the top 10 humanoid robots that are in actual use in industry and home, including the company and nationality of their manufacturer and the number of units currently in use.

ChatGPT:

Here’s a concise, sourced list of the top 10 humanoid robots that are actually being used (or actively piloted) today in industry and the home. For each I give: robot — manufacturer (country) — best public estimate of units currently in use (with source and date) and a one-line note where the figure needs context. Numbers are the best available public estimates as of the sources cited — some robots have large historic production numbers (e.g., retail/companion robots) while others are only just entering commercial pilots (so unit counts are small and often reported as “pilot” or “planned deliveries”).

1. Pepper — SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran (Japan / formerly France) — ~27,000 manufactured historically; active/operational fleet reported much smaller (documents suggest <2,000 remaining with SoftBank).
   Context: Pepper was widely sold as a service/companion robot; production was paused in 2021 (27,000 figure) and more recent reporting shows many units retired or inactive. (Wikipedia)

2. NAO — SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran (France) — ~13,000–19,000 units deployed (Aldebaran/SoftBank corporate figures report ~13k–19k units in use across education, research, care).
   Context: NAO is a long-running educational/research humanoid with the largest installed base among research/education humanoids. (Wikipedia)

3. Digit — Agility Robotics (USA) — dozens of units in commercial pilots (multiple customers including GXO, Amazon pilots; paid-use pilots reported).
   Context: Digit is one of the first bipedal humanoids to be deployed in logistics/warehouses in paid pilots; deployments are early but growing. (reports note specific pilot sites and a small number of robots in active use). (Agility Robotics)

4. Walker (Walker S series) — UBTECH (China) — hundreds planned / contracts in the hundreds; company projects deliveries of ~500 units in 2025 (contract backlog and deliveries reported in 2025).
   Context: UBTECH has secured large contracts and projects scaled deliveries; many units are under contract or slated for 2025 delivery. (Gasgoo)

5. Apollo (Apptronik) — Apptronik (USA) — small commercial pilot fleets (single-digit to low-double-digit pilots reported); production scale-up partnerships announced.
   Context: Apptronik has active pilots and a stated partnership with Jabil to scale production; current in-use numbers are pilot scale. (apptronik.com)

6. Atlas (humanoid) — Boston Dynamics (USA; Hyundai Motor Group parent) — very small number (research/demo units) plus initial factory trials/pilots in 2025; not mass deployed yet.
   Context: Atlas has primarily been a research/demonstration robot; 2024–2025 reporting indicates initial trials/plant pilots with Hyundai, but commercial counts remain small. (Boston Dynamics)

7. Optimus — Tesla (USA) — prototype / very small number of units in internal testing; Tesla public targets large production but real deployed fleet remains at prototype/pilot scale.
   Context: Tesla has publicly announced production targets (thousands) but independent reporting and company updates indicate only prototypes / limited internal units are in use so far. (Tesla)

8. Figure (Figure 03, Figure AI) — Figure (USA) — pilot units / early deployments; public announcements describe limited pilots and development fleet (small numbers).
   Context: Figure is an aggressive scale-up startup focused on logistics/household form factors; practical deployments are currently at pilot scale. (FigureAI)

9. REEM-C / REEM family — PAL Robotics (Spain) — small number of commercial/research units (research/retail pilots across Europe); exact public counts are modest (dozens).
   Context: PAL’s REEM robots are sold to research labs and commercial pilots (service/retail) rather than mass consumer rollouts. (PAL Robotics)

10. HRP series / HRP-5P and other Japanese research→industrial humanoids — AIST / Japanese consortia (Japan) — prototype/limited production / pilot deployments (single-digit to low-double-digit research/industrial units).
    Context: Japanese national labs and OEMs have several advanced humanoid R&D platforms that are being tested in industrial contexts; public counts are small because most are prototypes. (Robots Guide)

Quick notes on methodology & uncertainty

• I prioritized robots that are actually being used in the field (service/companion robots like Pepper/NAO and logistics/manufacturing pilots like Digit, Walker, Apollo, Atlas).

• For long-lived commercial products (Pepper, NAO) manufacturers report historical production/deployment; independent reporting sometimes shows that a large fraction of those units are retired or inactive — I noted that when sources conflicted. (Wikipedia)

• For the newest humanoids (Digit, Walker, Apollo, Atlas, Optimus, Figure), most current deployments are pilot / early commercial and public counts are small (single digits → low hundreds depending on the vendor and contracts). I added the most authoritative recent reports for each pilot/contract where available. (TIME)

• Where vendors state large future production targets (e.g., Tesla Optimus targets, UBTECH projections), I explicitly labelled those as targets/projections rather than current live fleets. (Business Insider)

**

Gemini:

It is challenging to provide an exact "Top 10" list with definitive, verified numbers of units in use for the newest generation of humanoid robots, as many are just moving from pilot programs to commercial deployment. Companies like Tesla and Agility Robotics have announced plans to scale production dramatically (e.g., thousands of units annually), but current deployment figures are often not public.

The following list includes the most widely deployed and commercially active humanoid robots, particularly those in logistics, retail, and customer service, where verifiable commercial use is more established or imminent.

1. Pepper SoftBank Robotics (through Aldebaran, now SoftBank Robotics Europe)Japan / FranceThousands (Production paused, but many still in use) Customer service, retail, hospitality, education

2. NAO SoftBank Robotics (through Aldebaran, now SoftBank Robotics Europe)Japan / France Thousands (Widely used in education and research) Education, research, customer interaction

3. Digit Agility Robotics USA Dozens to hundreds (Pilots with Amazon, GXO, and others) Logistics, warehouse operations, material handling

4. Sanbot Qihan Technology China Hundreds (Used in various service roles)Retail, hospitality, customer assistance

5. Figure 01 Figure AI USA Small fleet (Pilot program with BMW for manufacturing) Manufacturing, logistics, general-purpose tasks

6. Apollo Apptronik USA Small fleet (Pilot program with Mercedes-Benz for manufacturing) Manufacturing, logistics, industrial environments

7. Phoenix Sanctuary AI Canada Small fleet (Pilot programs in retail/logistics) Retail, logistics, general-purpose tasks

8. Kime Macco Robotics SpainSmall-scale commercial use (Primarily in Europe) Hospitality (bartending, food service)

9. Walker S2 UBTECH Robotics China Limited commercial deployment (Focus on home and wellness) Home service, light industrial tasks

10. Optimus (Tesla Bot)Tesla USA Internal use at Tesla facilities (Rapidly scaling for manufacturing) Manufacturing, general-purpose labor

Key Context Points:

• Established vs. Emerging: Pepper and NAO have been in use for years (though mass production of Pepper has paused) and account for the largest known volume of humanoids deployed in service roles and education.

• Industrial Focus: Robots like Digit, Figure 01, and Apollo are the new wave, primarily targeting logistics and manufacturing. Their "units in use" numbers are rapidly changing as they move from pilot deployments to scalable factory production. Agility Robotics, for example, is building a factory to produce up to 10,000 Digits per year.

• Units in Use: Exact, current deployment figures for the newest commercial robots are typically proprietary business data and not consistently disclosed by companies. The figures listed are based on publicly announced partnerships and production goals.