Vucic Opens Humanoid Robot Factory in Sabac

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic opened Europe’s first humanoid robot factory on Saturday, August 29, in Sabac. The ceremony had been scheduled for 11 a.m., with live coverage from the scene starting around 10:48. The first-phase investment totals 20 million euros, the plant currently employs 30 people, and that number is expected to grow to between 200 and 250.

On arrival, Vucic met with company leadership and founder Qin Ronghua. The decision to open the factory followed his visit to China in May, when he toured the company’s plants and innovation center in the city of Jiaxing. The opening had originally been planned for June or July before being pushed back to late August.

Who is the investor? Sources disagree

Serbian outlets differ on the investor’s identity. RTS, Tanjug and B92 report that the factory is being opened by the Chinese company Minth, founded by Qin Ronghua, which already employs about 2,200 people in Sabac and is the city’s largest employer. Sabacke novosti names AGIBOT Innovation as the investor. Kurir links the two, writing that AGIBOT is opening the factory in partnership with Minth, which has operated in Serbia since 2018, runs ten factories (four of them in Sabac), and has plants in both Sabac and Loznica.

The plant produces humanoid robots as well as four-legged robots intended for factories, logistics, warehouses and mining. “It takes an hour to manufacture and assemble a single leg,” Vucic told reporters during the tour of the plant.

Milutin and Dragutin welcome the president

At the factory entrance, the president was greeted by two robots, Milutin and Dragutin, dressed in Serbian folk costume with sajkaca hats. The pair were first shown publicly on June 27 outside the National Assembly of Serbia, and in Sabac they danced the kolo, a traditional Serbian round dance, in addition to offering their welcome.

“To start, let’s dance a Serbian kolo: the moravac,” Dragutin said, to which Milutin added: “You’re right, Dragutin. Behind these doors is a new step in the development of robotics in Serbia.”

The robots also noted that robotics has a long tradition in Serbia: the Mihajlo Pupin Institute developed the “Belgrade hand” in the early 1960s, the world’s first bionic hand with five fingers, and professor Miomir Vukobratovic built the first active bipedal exoskeleton by the end of that decade.

Vucic called the factory’s opening a pioneering venture. “This is a pioneering venture, this is only the beginning,” the president said, adding that a considerably larger project in Indjija will follow Sabac.

A robotics park in Indjija and 20,000 robots a year

Vucic announced a robotics and drone park in Indjija, with total planned investment of 200 million euros and a target annual capacity of up to 20,000 humanoid robots. He said Minth controls 44 percent of the global market and that the company’s Serbian factories are expected to export 1.5 billion euros worth of goods next year. He also said three companies in Europe currently work with Minth.

“Only once we link this with data centers and supercomputers will we get enormous power,” Vucic said.

Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, who accompanied the president on the tour, confirmed that 80 robots from the Sabac plant will be sent to Expo 2027, where they will greet visitors.

“For now, we’re negotiating. There are some other things too, since we’re already taking some of these robots that are assembled here,” Mali said.

Vucic added: “Eighty robots from here are going to the Expo, and we’ll soon reveal what else we’ll use these robots for.”

When do the robots reach the military?

The president also announced military use of the robots, on condition that each one passes at least 100 hours of testing before being put into service. “You’ll see them in action in 15 days,” Vucic said of that plan. He stressed that the robots will carry a “Made in Serbia” label and called it a major undertaking for the country.

Vucic also cited employment figures for Sabac: the number of unemployed fell from 11,700 in 2012 to 3,700 today, while the number of employed rose from 26,000 to 36,000.

China’s robot industry is growing fast

By early July, AGIBOT had produced 15,000 humanoid robots, including 5,000 units in under three months. In the first half of 2026, it delivered about 8,400 humanoid robots, up 562 percent from the same period in 2025, taking 44 percent of the global market and overtaking previous leader Unitree Robotics.

Global market figures cited by Kurir show the scale of that growth:

• the global market delivered 19,100 humanoid robots in the first half of 2026, up 272 percent from the same period last year
• China accounts for 97 percent of global production
• exports reached 141 countries, generating 807 million euros in revenue

The Sabac factory is thus part of a far broader surge in China’s robotics industry, one in which Serbia, according to everything reported today, is the first country in Europe with a domestic plant of this kind.