Gasgoo Munich- As automotive LiDAR continues its fierce battle to break through the 15% penetration "standard line," the robotics sector has quietly taken the baton of growth.
On May 27, RoboSense released its financial report for the first quarter of 2026. The company generated roughly 460 million yuan in revenue for the quarter — a 40% year-on-year increase — while total LiDAR sales climbed 204.1% to 330,300 units. Even more striking is the performance in robotics: sales in this sector hit 185,500 units, surging 1,458.8% annually. Their share of total volume leapt from 11% a year ago to 56%, overtaking ADAS automotive business for the first time to become the company's largest revenue source.
Image source: RoboSense
At a time when the LiDAR industry is collectively hunting for a "second curve" of growth, this structural shift offers a critical case study.
Robotic Mowers Lead the Volume Charge as Robotics Shifts from "Niche" to "Mainstream"
RoboSense's robotics performance this quarter can only be described as explosive. The company has now served over 3,400 robotics and related industry clients globally, with products spanning sectors from robotic lawnmowers and humanoid robots to autonomous mining trucks, delivery vehicles, and robotaxis. This ability to penetrate multiple scenarios is rare in the industry.
Robotic lawnmowers have emerged as the first scenario to achieve significant scale. Financial reports show RoboSense held the top spot in first-quarter sales in this sector, covering 9 of the world's top 10 manufacturers. The company is advancing intelligent upgrades for next-generation products with Roborock and has elevated its partnership with Weilan Continental to a strategic level.
Driven by a product integration cycle far shorter than that of automotive pre-installation, combined with concentrated volume releases from top-tier clients, robotic mowers have quickly become the core growth engine for the robotics division.
Yet, a critical question remains: can this high growth be sustained?
Robotic lawnmowers exhibit distinct seasonal demand patterns. Furthermore, while penetration is rising rapidly in European and American markets, the overall ceiling and intensity of competition are climbing in tandem. At the same time, robotics scenarios are highly fragmented; from mowing to cleaning, and from delivery to industrial applications, different categories have vastly different requirements for LiDAR performance and cost sensitivity.
How RoboSense maintains the economies of scale for standardized products while satisfying these diverse needs across fragmented scenarios will be the key challenge it must solve to transition its robotics business from explosive growth to stability.
Deep Automotive Order Pool but Lagging Conversion: Can Chip Strategy Pierce Both Sectors?
Compared to the breakneck speed of its robotics division, RoboSense's ADAS automotive foundation appeared relatively "steady" this quarter.
By the end of the first quarter, the company had secured production design wins for 177 vehicle models from 36 OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, achieving start of production (SOP) for 69 models across 17 clients. It defended its title as the "dual champion" for both the number of equipped models and brands at the Beijing Auto Show.
ADAS orders on hand exceed 9 million units, with a client matrix covering top automakers like BYD, Geely, SAIC, and Nissan. Newly designated models are expected to enter mass production sequentially starting next quarter.
First-quarter ADAS LiDAR sales stood at approximately 144,800 units — a growth rate far lagging the robotics sector. However, this does not signal weakening demand; rather, it reflects the inevitable cycle from pre-installation awards to SOP and, finally, volume ramp-up.
Typically, a vehicle model requires 12 to 18 months from award to significant volume, meaning RoboSense's massive order reserve is still on the verge of monetization. For the automotive business, the true release of performance will likely depend on the volume ramp-up of new models in the second half of the year.
Underpinning this dual-track strategy is the intensive rollout of its self-developed chips. On April 21, RoboSense released its new generation of SPAD-SoC chips, "Phoenix" and "Peacock," aiming to penetrate both the high-performance automotive and high-integration robotics sectors with a unified technological foundation.
The "Phoenix," a native 2,160-line chip, targets high-end autonomous driving needs. High-definition LiDAR solutions based on this chip have already secured design wins from leading automakers, with mass production expected within the year. The "Peacock," a high-resolution large-array chip, is customized for robotics scenarios, emphasizing miniaturization, low power consumption, and manufacturability at scale. Related products have been delivered in small batches, with mass production scheduled to begin in the third quarter.
Additionally, cumulative deliveries of the E-platform solid-state LiDAR, equipped with self-developed SPAD-SoC chips, have surpassed 300,000 units. This has preliminarily verified the commercial viability of the chip-based solution in scenarios like robotic lawnmowers.
However, a calm view is also necessary: there is still a window before the "Peacock" chip reaches mass production in the third quarter, and its actual delivery capacity and market acceptance remain to be seen. Similarly, for the "Phoenix" chip to achieve stable pre-installation in high-end autonomous vehicles this year, it must undergo strict automotive-grade validation and adaptation tests by OEMs.
Against a backdrop of white-hot price competition in automotive LiDAR and a dense influx of new players in robotics, whether RoboSense's self-developed chip strategy can maintain a lead in cost, performance, and delivery cadence will be the key to validating its dual-drive logic.
Overall, RoboSense's first-quarter report reveals a clear transformation trajectory for a LiDAR enterprise evolving from a "breakout with automotive-grade products" to "parallel advancement in both automotive and robotics sectors."
The explosive growth of the robotics business has provided the company with a definite increment outside of automotive, but the volatility and fragmentation of the consumer robotics track, along with the entry of new players, are testing the endurance of this growth engine.
As the revenue surprise from "lawnmowers" is gradually digested by the market, how to replicate this momentum into more high-value scenarios like humanoid and industrial applications—and convert the automotive order pool into actual performance—will be the answer RoboSense must deliver in its next phase.
