What's inside a robot
Actuators & motors
Permanent-magnet motors with NdFeB (high torque) or SmCo (high temp). The single most material-critical part.
Gearing
Harmonic and cycloidal drives (Harmonic Drive, Nabtesco) turn motor speed into precise joint torque.
Sensors
Cameras, LiDAR, IMUs, and force/torque sensors — the perception layer, semiconductor-heavy.
Compute
On-board inference (Nvidia Jetson, custom SoCs) — robotics rides the same AI/semiconductor stack.
Power
Li-ion packs for mobile and humanoid robots; the same battery-metal supply chain as EVs.
Players
FANUC, ABB, Yaskawa, KUKA in industrial; Tesla (Optimus), Figure, Boston Dynamics, Unitree in humanoids.
Why the materials matter
Torque density wins in robotics, and that comes from rare-earth permanent magnets — neodymium-iron-boron, often with dysprosium/terbium added to hold field at temperature, or samarium-cobalt where heat is extreme. A humanoid can contain dozens of these motors, so the NdFeB supply chain (China-refined) sits directly upstream of the humanoid wave.
The chokepoints
- Neodymium / praseodymium — the workhorse magnet rare earths, ~90% China-refined.
- Dysprosium & terbium — heavy REEs that make magnets heat-resistant; extreme concentration.
- Samarium — for high-temperature SmCo motors.
- Battery metals — lithium, cobalt, nickel for mobile/humanoid power.
Critical materials powering robotics (…)
Magnets, motors, and power. Click any element for its full profile. Explore all 68 →