Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree just delivered one of the loudest signals yet that investor appetite for physical AI has reached full boil. Reuters reports Unitree’s $900 million Shanghai IPO was more than 8,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors, with a lot-winning rate of roughly 0.018%. For context, SpaceX’s much larger offering was approximately 4x oversubscribed ahead of its June debut, Snowflake’s 2020 IPO was 120x, and Facebook’s 2012 deal was 20x.
U.S. investors chasing the same theme have options beyond the Unitree lottery. Agility Robotics is heading public via a $2.5 billion SPAC, and a deep bench of listed sensor suppliers, warehouse automators, and AI infrastructure names already trade daily. Below, we count down the top five publicly traded robotics stocks based on execution, revenue growth, margin trajectory, and strategic positioning in physical AI.
5. Aeva Technologies
Aeva Technologies (NASDAQ:AEVA) is small but strategically loaded. Q2 2026 revenue of $6.14 million grew 11.3% YoY and beat consensus by 3.64% while gross profit swung to +$2.19 million from a $2.72 million loss a year earlier. A $115 million follow-on boosted liquidity to $302.90 million, funding a new Optical Connectivity business with a hyperscaler joint development agreement. Automotive programs with Daimler Truck, a top-10 European OEM, and NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion anchor the sensing thesis. Shares are up 84.26% year to date.
4. Ouster
Ouster (NASDAQ:OUST) delivered the cohort’s strongest sensor-supplier quarter. Q2 2026 revenue jumped 55.9% year over year to $54.63 million, beating estimates by 7.36%. GAAP gross margin expanded 400 basis points to 49%, while sensor shipments topped 17,000.
Ouster CEO Angus Pacala explained, “Customers around the world have continued to scale their investments in Physical AI, and Ouster is well positioned to benefit as autonomy moves into more complex, real-world applications.” The stock has responded, up 108.1% year to date.
3. Symbotic
Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM | SYM Price Prediction) is the scaled non-humanoid play. Q3 FY2026 revenue rose 21.7% year over year to $720.84 million, while gross margin widened from 18.9% to 22.3% and adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $95 million. A roughly $22.5 billion backlog provides visibility, and the Exol joint venture with Japan’s SoftBank opens the door to a warehouse-as-a-service market valued above $500 billion. The risk side remains hard to ignore: Walmart accounts for an outsized share of Symbotic’s total revenue, internal-control weaknesses persist, and the stock is down 30.6% year to date at last check.
2. Tesla
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is the highest-profile robotics narrative in the market, even if Q2 profitability disappointed. Revenue rose 25.5% year over year to $28.24 billion on record deliveries of 480,126, but non-GAAP EPS of $0.33 missed the $0.54 estimate by a mile as operating margin narrowed to 1.4%. Optimus production lines are being installed in Fremont, Robotaxi now spans seven U.S. metros, and Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscribers jumped 56% to 1.48 million. Prediction markets assign just 14.5% odds to an Optimus release by year-end.
1. NVIDIA
NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) is the pick-and-shovel supplier behind nearly every robotics and physical-AI thesis on this list. Q1 FY2027 revenue surged 85.2% year over year to $81.61 billion, beating estimates by 3.16%, as Data Center revenue jumped 92% to $75.25 billion. Non-GAAP gross margin reached 75%, with Q2 revenue guided to $91 billion. CEO Jensen Huang famously called it “the largest infrastructure expansion in human history.” The Isaac platform, Cosmos, GR00T N models, and DRIVE Hyperion partnerships with Hyundai, BYD, and Uber put NVIDIA inside virtually every humanoid, autonomous vehicle, and warehouse automation roadmap. Shares carry a P/E near 33x and are up 17.4% year to date. Prediction markets assign a 96.1% probability that Q2 Data Center revenue clears $80 billion.
Where Robotics Fever Actually Cashes In
Unitree’s 8,000x oversubscription reflects the same thesis powering NVIDIA’s data center backlog, Symbotic’s warehouse deployments, and Ouster’s sensor shipments: physical AI is moving from demo to deployment. Retail investors can get exposure through U.S.-listed names. NVIDIA supplies the compute, Symbotic runs the aisles, Ouster and Aeva build the eyes, and Tesla is trying to build the body. Watch the next earnings cycle to see which of these five converts robotics hype into recurring revenue.
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