China’s T800 is now fighting worldwide against both robots and humans.
EngineAI is ramping up production of its Terminator-inspired humanoid robot at factories in Shenzhen and Zhengzhou as cyberpunk fight nights spread overseas.
Priced starting around $40,000, the T800 hit the road after EngineAI’s viral Ultimate Robot Knockout League (URKL) opener in July. A pair of the robots returned to the cage for Beijing’s 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC) in August.
The following month, ten of T800 robots battled in Riyadh at CyberHero, a new robot combat league from Shanghai-based Hero eSports. Billed as the Middle East’s first humanoid robot fight card, it kicked off eight planned events across Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
In the West, San Francisco-based REK (Robot Entertainment Kombat) upped the ante with what it called the world’s first human versus humanoid robot cage match. Influencer Frankie LaPenna entered a plexiglass octagon against a remotely controlled T800. He landed a few early shots before a front kick sent him flying into the wall.
The next night, EngineAI brought URKL to Shanghai for two sold-out shows. This time, sparks flew as the robots traded blows without ringside pilots.
Standing 1.7 meters (5 feet 8 inches), the T800 weighs 75 kg (165 lbs), has 29 degrees of freedom (DoF), and comes equipped with three-fingered hands with seven moving joints each. Final production versions of the robot are reportedly closer to 1.8 meters (6 feet) and 85 kg (nearly 200 lbs). The robot boasts significantly higher torque than most modern humanoids at 450 Nm, which on paper surpasses 90 percent of men in their prime. However, its payload capacity is lower than rivals like Atlas from Boston Dynamics at around 5 kg (11 lbs) per hand.
Introduced in fall 2025, the T800 is the same robot that went viral for kicking its creator in the chest to prove it’s real, and for patrolling the streets with Shenzhen’s finest. EngineAI is marketing the robot as a general-purpose worker for use across sectors. Its name is inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in The Terminator series.
EngineAI is scaling toward 10,000 units annually after securing around $200 million in a Series B round in April 2026. The funding brought its total amount raised so far to at least $350 million and pushed its valuation to $1.5 billion.
The startup is reportedly seeking a public listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), where it would join fellow Shenzhen humanoid makers UBTECH Robotics and Dobot, as well as Shanghai’s Seer Robotics, which specializes in AI-powered robot controllers and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). However, the Chinese government is reportedly heightening the barriers for humanoid public listings amid concerns of overvaluations.