AI-powered humanoid robots are starting to enter Vietnam’s industrial workforce.
The Southeast Asian nation is aggressively modernizing its manufacturing base as it positions itself as a more affordable and more flexible alternative to China. It’s become a so-called China Plus One destination, meaning global companies are keeping operations in the People’s Republic while expanding into Vietnam to reduce costs, avoid risks, and strengthen their supply chains.
With a population of more than 101 million people, the country has expanded its industrial base by 116 percent over the past decade. Global demand is pushing its factories to produce more, faster, and with higher precision.
Vietnam has already invested heavily in automation and smart factories, deploying industrial robots across key sectors like electronics, textiles, and automotive manufacturing. The government incentivizes AI and robotics adoption with tax breaks, subsidies, and policy support.
When it comes to humanoids, however, Vietnam is taking a much more cautious approach than China, which is determined to mass produce fake humans throughout 2025 and lead the industry by 2027.
The newly established VinMotion in Hanaoi is leading the way.
The subsidiary of Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, just introduced its first bipedal humanoid robot. Named Motion_1, the robot is designed to fit into existing workflows, starting with light-duty industrial tasks like material transport, visual inspection, and basic assembly support on factory floors.
On LinkedIn, Quan Nguyen, the robotics firm’s chairman and chief scientific officer, said the project is backed by $39 million in initial funding. He said the team developed the first prototype in just three months. According to Nguyen’s professional profile, he’s also an assistant professor at the University of Southern California and has a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
“Our mission is clear: Focus on deployment,” he said in the post. “We aim to answer one of the most critical questions in robotics today: how to scale humanoid deployment effectively. The road ahead will be extremely challenging, but we’re deeply committed to this mission.”
Motion_1 is Vietnam’s first major effort in humanoid robotics since the TOPIO series by TOSY Robotics, which started in the late 2000s. Unlike Motion_1, however, TOPIO was primarily created for entertainment and research. The robots became known for their table tennis abilities, though they never reached pro status.
VinMotion, which launched in January 2025, has already built and tested five prototype versions of Motion_1. The company says it’s building an entire ecosystem for deploying the robots, which the firm calls a Humanoid of Things Infrastructure. The goal is mass deployment with minimal setup.
The company shared footage of the robot walking, waving, and recognizing objects. It can interact using basic gestures and voice commands. According to VinMotion, the humanoid has semi-autonomous controls with a human in the loop system. The robot uses adaptive learning so it improves over time based on human feedback and task repetition.
The humanoids are starting with transporting parts and doing repetitive tasks at Vin Fast, which Vingroup launched in 2017 as Vietnam’s first global car brand. The automaker started with gas cars and later pivoted fully to electric vehicles.
VinFast’s manufacturing operations are already highly automated. Its first factory was built in just 21 months with 90 percent automation.
VinMotion is developing a next-generation humanoid called Super Motion for more heavy-duty industrial applications.