Vietnam’s humanoid robots are going global.
Its wealthiest man is going all in on humanlike machines as the nation’s industrial base expands rapidly. The Southeast Asian country wants to move from exporting mostly low-cost goods to being a serious player in emerging tech. It’s positioning itself as a more affordable and flexible alternative to China, which is investing more in humanoids than anyone.
It’s early days for Vietnam’s humanoid ambitions, but things are moving unusually fast. Less than two years into the push, a range of Vietnamese prototypes is already moving toward mass production. They’re marching into the workforce with plans to send them far beyond the domestic market already taking shape.
Vingroup Invests in Physical AI
The main driver behind Vietnam’s humanoid push is Vingroup, the country’s largest private conglomerate.
Phạm Nhật Vượng founded Vingroup in 1993 after building his fortune in Ukraine through his instant noodle business, Technocom. When he returned to Vietnam, he scaled the success by an order of magnitude. He became Vietnam’s wealthiest man as Vingroup’s footprint far beyond instant noodles.
Today, the billionaire entrepreneur oversees a diverse suite of businesses across real estate, automotive manufacturing, hospitality, retail, healthcare, and next-gen technologies. The conglomerate began exploring artificial intelligence in the late 2010s with the launch of VinAI, which mostly develops autonomous driving tech. Its main customer is Vingroup’s EV company, Vinfast, which is expanding across key Asian markets, especially India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
VinRobotics
Vingroup formally threw itself into the humanoid fray in late 2024.
It was Vietnam’s first major effort in humanoids since the 2000s when TOSY Robotics gained international visibility with its TOPIO series. The robots became known for their table tennis abilities, though they never reached pro status.
Vingroup launched the first of at least three humanoid sub-brands, VinRobotics, in November 2024 with around $40 million in initial capital. Headquartered in Hanoi, the company has since introduced at least five industrial robot prototypes.
Its flagship is the VR-H3, which the robotics firm says was built from scratch in Vietnam. It stands 178 cm (5 feet 10 inches), weighs around 85 kg (187 lbs), and has a reported 31 degrees of freedom (DoF).
VinRobotics says the heavy-duty humanoid is designed as an assistant for factories and harsh work environments. It uses rotary joints to copy humanlike movement. Each of its arms reportedly lift about 3 kg (6.6 lbs). According to the robotics firm, the H3 has two hot-swappable batteries, so it never has to fully power down (similar to industrial humanoids like UBTECH’s Walker S2, Hexagon’s AEON, and Atlas from Boston Dynamics).
Like most of today’s humanoids, the robot uses a vision-language-action (VLA) model to act on natural language instructions. It perceives its surroundings with three depth cameras, while its onboard AI processes real-time visual data with two high-performance edge computers.
VinRobotics says the humanoid is already being tested at a Vinfast automotive plant for tasks like lifting and carrying car parts. In February 2026, the company held a public demo during which the robot successfully completed three production-like tasks in a mock factory setup.
Vinfast’s manufacturing operations are already highly automated. Its first factory was built in just 21 months with 90 percent of key processes automated.
The H3 robot made its global debut at the Computex 2026 conference in Taiwan. Following the showcase, VinRobotics announced its open-source humanoid platform, starting with software to help engineers train, test, and deploy robot behaviors. The company says the platform will be introduced in phases beginning with strategic partners and enterprise deployments.
VinMotion
Another subsidiary, VinMotion, launched in early 2025, also with around $40 million in initial capital. It’s led by Quan Nguyen, who has a PhD in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Melon University and is an associate professor at USC.
The robotics firm says it’s developing general-purpose humanoids to fit into existing workflows, starting with light-duty industrial tasks like material transport, visual inspections, and basic assembly support on factory floors.
VinMotion unveiled the first prototype just a few months after its founding, and its production-ready humanoid, the Motion 2, in early 2026.
In its intro video, the Motion 2 shows off its improved walking gait compared to the original, lifts 40 kg (88 lbs) with its back, karate cops a piece of wood with its fist, does a backbend, and reaches to the ground to grab a stuffed animal with its five-fingered hand. It also shows how it can charge itself.
VinMotion officially launched its flagship at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. They showcased the humanoid in partnership with Qualcomm, whose Dragonwing system-on-a-chip powers its dynamic movements and intelligent tasks.
One live demo went viral when the Motion 2 glitched mid-movement. Its legs buckled, it fell hard, and it fell apart on impact. The footage spread across social media almost as quickly as staffers rushed to pick up the pieces. Despite the mishap, the appearance was considered a major milestone in Vietnam’s emerging tech industry.
The company says it’s building an entire ecosystem for deploying its robots, which it calls a Humanoid of Things infrastructure. The goal is mass deployment with minimal setup.
VinMotion says it’s moving toward mass production for later in 2026 while establishing a presence in Southern California to tap into US robotics talent.
VinDynamics
The third robotics company, VinDynamics, launched in September 2025 with around $20 million in funding.
Its flagship is Dyno. VinDynamics says it’s optimized for security and surveillance roles in urban areas and places like the Vinpearl Safari Phu Quoc, where it recently started working as a multilingual guide. The Vingroup-controlled safari is Vietnam’s first and largest semi-wildlife conservation park. It’s home to more than 4,000 animals and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors per year.
According to the company, Dyno communicates with visitors using its speech, gestures, and cute expressions on its screenlike face. Its five-fingered hands are built for light-duty jobs. They each have 11 moving joints and can be controlled in six different directions.
Like Vingroup’s other divisions, VinDynamics is testing its robots in its ecosystem before wider rollout. They’re focused on service applications for now with possible home use down the line. VinDynamics is led by Dr. Jim La, a Vietnamese-American robotics professor who previously directed the Advanced Robotics and Automation Laboratory at the University of Nevada Reno.
At less than a year old, VinDynamics is already preparing a global push, partnering with international suppliers like Germany’s Schaeffler to improve motion systems needed for overseas markets.
The Future of Robotics
Meanwhile in China, an army of advanced humanoids is rolling into households. The autonomous machines are developed by a new breed of well-backed robotics firms that are going to unusual lengths to familiarize their humanoids with real homes. And in the West, startups are popping up with plans that are even more radical. Read all about it here.