Physical AI supply chain map: who makes each part, and where
A humanoid robot is some thirty actuated joints on a frame, a battery pack in the torso, a compute module and a set of cameras, with a lidar on some. Each joint is a motor, a reducer, a bearing, an encoder and a driver in one housing, and behind the motor sit sintered magnets, behind the reducer gear steel, behind the pack the cells.
The Office of Strategic Capital lends in areas that include robots, batteries and sensors, and reviews a borrower's suppliers for foreign influence. Most magnets and many reducers, cells and cameras come from one country, so a humanoid built from the usual suppliers has makers owned from there at several joints.
The Verdex physical AI map shows the companies at every step of this chain, where their plants are, and how each stands under the rules that apply to the sector. Each step below opens its own page: what happens at that step, who does it, and where. How a humanoid robot is made, step by step.
Materials
- Nd/Pr metal: Neodymium and praseodymium metal, the main rare-earth input to the magnet alloy.
- Dysprosium and terbium: Heavy rare earths for coercivity at rotor temperature, put in by grain-boundary diffusion (or alloyed in on older grades).
- Gear steel: Alloy steel bar and forgings machined into the flexspline, circular spline and gear trains.
- Bearing steel: Through-hardening bearing steel (100Cr6 = SAE 52100 = SUJ2 class) for bearing rings and the reducer's output bearing.
- Encoder sensor IC: Hall or magnetoresistive absolute position sensor IC, two per joint.
- Power switches: Si MOSFETs today, GaN entering: six switches per three-phase joint inverter.
- Silicon wafers: 300 mm silicon wafers for the SoC and the image sensors.
- Laser diode and detector: 905 nm laser diode and receiver inside the lidar.
Motors and drives
- NdFeB alloy powder: Melting and strip casting of Nd-Fe-B alloy, 200 to 400 um flakes; hydrogen decrepitation to under 2 mm; jet milling to 2 to 5 um. Output: aligned fine powder.
- Sintered NdFeB magnet: Align in field and press; sinter 1000 to 1100 C; two-stage anneal 850 to 950 C and 400 to 600 C; machine; grain-boundary diffusion of Dy or Tb for coercivity; nickel or epoxy coat; magnetize. Output: sintered NdFeB segments or ring, grade N42SH to N45UH class for joint rotors.
- Frameless PM motor: Electrical-steel lamination stamping and stacking; copper winding with high fill factor; rotor ring with surface magnets; no housing or bearing (the joint supplies them). Output: frameless PMSM, internal rotor, 48 V bus, 50 to 115 mm outer diameter.
- Precision reducer: Harmonic: flexspline, circular spline and wave generator machined from steel, teeth cut, heat treated, assembled with an output crossed-roller bearing; planetary: two-stage gear train; cycloidal: eccentric cam and pin ring. Output: reducer unit, 30:1 to 160:1 harmonic or 2-stage planetary.
- Crossed roller bearing: Ring forging in 100Cr6-class bearing steel, turning, through-hardening to 58 to 64 HRC, grinding, crossed-roller assembly. Output: crossed roller bearing, 50 to 70 mm bore.
- Position encoders: Magnetic absolute sensor IC (Hall or magnetoresistive) on a PCB facing a magnet ring; one on the motor shaft for commutation, one on the joint output for true angle. Output: two encoders per joint (dual encoder).
- Motor driver: Three-phase inverter (3 half-bridges = 6 switches) + gate driver + MCU on a round PCB inside the joint; 15 to 55 V bus. Output: joint drive board.
- Joint module: Motor + reducer + output bearing + two encoders + driver assembled into one hollow-shaft module; cables routed through the bore. Output: one actuated joint.
- AC servo motor: Motor laminations and other parts pressed, housing parts die cast, shafts and flanges turned on CNC lathes, the stator wound, the magnet rotor fitted, then a holding brake and an absolute encoder built onto the motor; assembled, tested and packed on robotized lines. Output: housed AC servo motor with holding brake and absolute encoder, sealed to IP67; six per arm (three larger on the main axes, three smaller on the wrist on the GP25).
- Axis drive: Each servo motor mounted on its motor base with an input gear into the speed reducer; the B and T axes driven through timing belts and the R and T axes through a gear stage; the R-axis unit and the wrist unit built as sub-assemblies; reducers and gears filled with grease and sealed with oil seals, O-rings and gaskets. Output: one driven axis; six per arm.
- Torque sensor: A sensor body machined from high-strength aluminium, strain gauges fixed to it, and the electronics that read them; built into a joint to read the torque at its output, or fitted at the tool flange to read force and torque on six axes. Output: joint torque sensor (one per axis on the Doosan M1013) or one six-axis force and torque sensor at the tool flange (UR10e).
- Cobot joint: The frameless motor, the harmonic reducer, the two encoders, the drive board, a friction brake and, where the maker fits one, the torque sensor built into one hollow housing, with the cables through the middle. Output: one joint unit, replaced whole in service; six per arm in three sizes on the UR10e.
- Wheel drive: A brushless DC motor and a one or two stage planetary gearbox built into the hub of an aluminium wheel with a polyurethane tread, with an encoder for speed and position and an electromagnetic brake that holds when the power is off; on the vehicle the unit hangs on a bogie. Output: one wheel drive; two per vehicle.
- Outrunner motor: 0.2 mm silicon-steel stator laminations stamped and stacked, high-temperature enameled copper windings (200 to 240 C class), outer rotor bell with bonded arc magnets, two or three ball bearings, anodised aluminium housing; 24 stator slots, 28 magnet poles. Output: outrunner brushless DC motor, 70 to 80 mm stator, 6S to 12S, 350 to 2,100 W continuous, 350 to 445 g.
- Electronic speed controller: Three-phase inverter board: paralleled MOSFETs, gate drivers and a microcontroller running sine-wave or trapezoidal commutation, DC-link capacitors, in a machined aluminium case; opto-isolated signal input; firmware with synchronous rectification and regenerative braking. Output: electronic speed controller, 3S to 12S, 40 to 125 A continuous, 78 to 114 g.
- Propeller: Two routes: (a) carbon-fibre fabric and rovings with epoxy, laid in matched moulds and hot-pressed, optional torsion box between the two shell halves for the light version, balanced; (b) long-fibre pellets (60% glass or carbon fibre in a nylon binder, pultruded into half-inch pellets) injection moulded in CNC-milled mould halves, prop-shaft hole drilled, balanced. Output: fixed or folding propeller, 22 to 33 inch diameter for the band (25 inch on the M400, 22 x 7 on Astro, 33 x 9 on Alta X).
- Propulsion set: Motor bolted to a folding carbon-fibre arm, ESC in the arm or the centre body, propeller on a folding hub; four sets per aircraft, two clockwise and two counter-clockwise. Output: one of four propulsion sets.
Battery pack
- Cathode and anode materials: LFP (hydrothermal or solid state) or NMC precursor to cathode powder; graphite anode. Output: active materials.
- Lithium-ion cell: Electrode mixing, coating, drying, calendering, slitting, stacking or winding, welding, electrolyte fill, sealing, formation. Output: pouch or cylindrical cell, about 3.6 V nominal (13S x 3.6 V matches the G1 54 V charger).
- Battery pack: 13-cell series string (G1) with BMS, quick-release housing and connector; UN38.3 transport test; pack-level protection layers. Output: 0.42 to 2.25 kWh pack, 48 to 67 V class.
Compute
- SoC die: Leading-edge logic fab of the Blackwell GPU + Arm Neoverse V3AE CPU die. Output: Thor die.
- LPDDR5X memory: LPDDR5X die fab and packaging, 128 GB on the T5000 module. Output: LPDDR5X packages.
- GPU or SoC module: SoC packaging, module PCB assembly with DRAM, 699-pin connector, 100 x 87 mm. Output: Jetson T5000 module ($2,999 at 1,000 units) or IGX Thor board.
- Robot compute: Carrier board, thermal design, safety MCU; integrated into the torso or head. Output: robot compute (NEO Cortex; Digit 5 IGX Thor + Halos; Optimus FSD computer).
- Flight processor: Microcontroller or SoC fab and packaging: Arm Cortex-M7 flight MCU (STM32H753/H757, 480 MHz, 2 MB flash) with a Cortex-M3 IO co-processor, or a Qualcomm QRB5165 8-core SoC with GPU, NPU and DSP for a combined companion computer and autopilot. Output: flight MCU (Pixhawk class) or companion SoC (VOXL class).
- Flight controller board: PCB assembly of the processor(s), three IMUs on a temperature-controlled, vibration-isolated sensor board, two barometers and a magnetometer on separate buses with separate LDOs; conformal coating; firmware (PX4 or ArduPilot) loaded. Output: autopilot board: Pixhawk 6X / Cube Orange+ (FMU + IO) or VOXL 2 (16 g, 70 x 36 mm, companion + autopilot).
- GNSS and compass: GNSS receiver module (u-blox NEO-F9P, L1/L5 dual band RTK) on a board with its own STM32H757, an IMU, an RM3100 magnetometer and a Taoglas dual-band antenna; CAN FD to the autopilot. Output: GNSS/compass puck (CubePilot Here4; two per IF800).
- Radio: Software-defined mesh radio module: RF transceiver and power amplifier on a 46 x 51 mm board, 2x2 MIMO, frequency-hopping and AES-256 in firmware, configured for federal M1 to M6 bands (1,625 to 2,500 MHz) or ISM 2.4/5 GHz. Output: datalink module, 34 g (Doodle Labs Mini), 80 Mbps, 50+ km with directional antennas.
- Avionics module: Autopilot board, radio, GNSS, companion compute and power distribution in one enclosure or bay in the centre body; the C100 embeds the radio in the avionics module next to the VOXL compute core. Output: flight avionics.
Controller
- Servo drive: A converter and an inverter unit built as separate replaceable units in the cabinet, with single-axis amplifiers for added axes; printed circuit boards, heat radiation fins and cooling fans assembled into enclosures and tested. Output: the drive for six motors: one converter and one inverter unit (YRC1000: converter CSRA-CV, inverter unit CSRA-SDA, single-axis amplifier CSRA-SDB).
- Robot controller: A CPU unit holding the CPU board and the robot interface board, with a servo control board, a safety circuit board and a general-purpose I/O board, fed by a control power supply unit. Output: robot controller electronics: six axes, three external axes possible (YRC1000); 6 or 7 controlled axes and 16 MB of memory (Kawasaki F60, F01, F02).
- Teach pendant: A handheld programming unit in reinforced plastics: a 5.7-inch colour touch LCD, axis and operation keys, a mode selector, an emergency stop button and a three-position enable switch, on a cable to the cabinet. Output: teach pendant, 0.730 kg, 152 x 299 x 53 mm, IP54 (YRC1000).
- Controller cabinet: A sheet-metal cabinet fitted with the servo drive, the controller boards, a power supply contactor unit and a heat exchanger with interior and exterior fans; wired and tested; one cable runs to the arm. Output: controller cabinet: 598 x 490 x 427 mm, 125 litres, 70 kg at most, IP54, three-phase 380 to 440 VAC (YRC1000); 8.3 kg open type (Kawasaki F60).
- Control box: A powder-coated steel box fitted with the control board, a power supply, and an energy eater with its fan; one cable runs to the arm. Output: control box, 12 kg, IP44, on 100 to 240 VAC (UR10e).
Perception
- Image sensor: CMOS image sensor fab (global-shutter IR pair + rolling-shutter RGB in the D435i). Output: image sensor die.
- Camera module: Lens, sensor board, IR projector (depth cameras), calibration. Output: depth camera (RealSense D435i on G1) or stereo fisheye pair (NEO, 8.85 MP, 90 Hz).
- 3D lidar: 905 nm laser diode, detector, non-repetitive scanner, IMU, sealed IP67 housing. Output: Livox Mid-360, 265 g, 6.5 W, 200k points/s.
- Perception set: Cameras in head (and palms on Figure 03); lidar on the head (Unitree). Output: perception set.
- Inertial measurement unit: The drone's MEMS IMU step; on the humanoid an IMU sits inside the lidar (Livox Mid-360) and on each link (NEO). Output: 6-axis IMU (TDK ICM-40609 in the Livox Mid-360).
- Safety laser scanner: A scanner that sends a pulse of light, times its return and turns the beam round with a mirror inside, so it measures a whole plane; built and certified as a Type 3 safety device, with fields set in it that switch its safety outputs. Output: safety laser scanner, Type 3, good for a safety function up to PL d; two per vehicle on the MiR250.
- Thermal camera core: Uncooled vanadium oxide (VOx) microbolometer array on a readout IC, vacuum packaged, 12 um pitch, 640 x 512, with a germanium lens; factory non-uniformity calibration; 60 Hz. Output: LWIR thermal core, 640 x 512, 12 um, 8 to 14 um (Teledyne FLIR Boson / Boson+; DJI's own VOx core on the H30T).
- Gimbal payload: 2- or 3-axis stabilised gimbal: brushless gimbal motors, encoders, IMU, GPS/INS for geolocation, zoom optics (10x to 40x optical), optional laser pointer or rangefinder, slip ring for continuous roll, in a 145 to 920 g housing. Output: EO or EO/IR gimbal payload: NextVision X80 145 g (40x optical), Raptor EO/IR (1,280 x 720 thermal), Trillium HD40 series 650 to 840 g, DJI H30T 920 g.
Hand
- Finger drive: Micro brushless motors at the finger joints, six driving directly and one through gears (Dex3-1); micro linear servo actuators (Inspire); tendon drive (1X NEO). Output: finger joint drive.
- Tactile sensor: Pressure sensor arrays in the fingertips, finger pads and palm; Figure built its own after finding the market's sensors would not last. Output: tactile sensor array: fingertip reading 3 g (Figure 03); 33 sensors, 10 g to 2,500 g (Dex3-1).
- Dexterous hand: Finger drives and sensors built into one hand that talks to the robot over RS485 (Inspire) or USB 2.0 (Dex3-1) at 12 to 58 V. Output: dexterous hand: 6 DOF, 12 joints, 540 g (Inspire RH56DFX); 7 DOF, 710 g (Unitree Dex3-1); 22 DOF (1X NEO).
Frame and body
- Frame and links: Structural parts of the torso, limbs and joint housings in aircraft-grade aluminium, titanium alloy and high-strength engineering plastics. Output: frame and links.
- Cable harness: Cables routed inside every joint (full joint hollow electrical routing). Output: harness through the joints.
- Cooling: Local air cooling (G1, H2). Output: cooled joints and electronics.
- Body cover: Multi-density foam at pinch points under a soft, washable textile cover (Figure 03); hardware wrapped in a 3D lattice polymer (NEO). Output: soft body cover.
- Arm castings: Gray or nodular iron poured into resin or green sand moulds with sand cores, then cleaned. Output: rough castings for robot makers; which arm parts, and for which maker, is not published.
- Machined arm parts: Arm parts machined in unmanned cells, washed, masked and painted. Output: machined and painted arm parts.
Robot
- Humanoid robot assembly: Joint modules, the battery pack, the compute, the perception set and the hands built onto the frame, wired, cooled and covered: one actuated humanoid robot.
- Industrial arm assembly: Six axis drives built into the machined arm body and wired, then tested with the controller cabinet and the teach pendant: one six-axis industrial arm.
- Cobot assembly: Six joint units joined by aluminium links and wired through their hollow middles, then tested with the control box and the teach pendant: one collaborative robot arm.
- Quadruped robot assembly: Twelve joint modules, the battery pack, the compute boards, the lidar and the cameras built onto the body and the four legs and wired: one four-legged robot.
- Warehouse vehicle assembly: Two wheel drives, the battery, the robot computer, the safety laser scanners and the cameras built into a low chassis on swivel wheels and wired: one autonomous mobile robot.
- Mobile manipulator assembly: A cobot arm bolted to the top of an autonomous mobile robot, wired to its battery and its safety system, and tested as one machine: one mobile manipulator.
- Drone assembly: Four propulsion sets, the avionics module, the battery pack and the gimbal payload built onto the airframe and wired: one quadcopter.