RFPI Print #001|As of 2026-07-24|Basis per-unit list · v1
Print #001 · As of 2026-07-24 · Basis per-unit list · v1

Robot Frontier Price Index

The RFPI tracks the lowest observed price of a shipping robot in each category we cover — the entry price of the frontier — from archived public sources, published quarterly. Machines enter the index when they ship at an observable price, not when they are demoed.

Frontier Entry Prices — Q3 2026

all figures archived
Humanoid▼ 15.6% YoY
$13,500
list price · 6 observations since 2024-07
Held $16,000 for at least a year, repriced to $13,500 by 2025-12. The first sustained entry-price decline observed in the category.
Quadruped Platform— flat 3 yrs
$1,600
list price · 8 observations since 2023-07
Unchanged since 2023-07; the full variant ladder ($1,600–$3,050) is intact since launch. A new top variant entered 2026-01 without disturbing entry pricing.
Autonomous Tractor● price withdrawn
$74,998*
*last public price · 2024-07
$88,998 (2024-01), cut to $74,998 (2024-07), then removed from public view by 2025-01. We report the last observed figure. We don't estimate.

Frontier entry price = lowest observed price of a shipping unit in the category. The v1 basis is per-unit: it answers "what does it cost to buy into this category today?" Capability-normalized lines will publish under a v2 basis when both price and specification series are observable for the same units — and history will be restated under the new version, never silently.

Price Visibility Tracker

standing feature

Whether a price is published at all is itself data. Across five years of archived pages from the major arm, cobot, and AMR OEMs, not one published a U.S. dollar price.

Category
HumanoidYesThe exception in robotics — full public price list
Quadruped platformYesFull variant pricing public
Autonomous tractorWithdrawnPublic price removed 2025-01, not restored
Industrial armsNoZero public list prices across 5 years of archived OEM pages
CobotsNoDistributor-quote market, structurally opaque
Warehouse AMRsNoOne RaaS provider advertised "$8/hour" (2021–22), since removed

Announced vs. Shipping

vaporware watch · standing feature

Programs enter the index only when a shipping unit has an observed price.

Tesla OptimusAnnounced; production count zero per Q2-2026 earnings coverage2026-07-20
Humanoid (London)Announced; $152M Series A, Bosch manufacturing partner; no price, no ship date2026-07-21
AGIBOT (export lineup)Four models shown at WAIC 2026; export pricing not yet observed2026-07-18

Citation

"Robot Frontier Price Index, Print #001, The Robot Ledger, July 2026." — therobotledger.com

Full print of record, methodology notes, and standing caveats: Print #001 · Methodology