The compliance gap between a demo and a deployment
The distance from “it works on stage” to “it is legal on your floor”.
What to ask a factory before you commit
The questions that separate a working machine from a good demo.
A demo answers one question — can the machine perform the task — and a buyer needs answers to several others before committing.
Past the demo, to the line
Behind every demo unit sits a production line, a quality process and a service organisation, and none of those three are visible from a stage. A buyer who commits on the strength of the demo alone is committing to all three sight unseen.
The questions worth asking are not about the robot’s specifications. They are about what happens on the days the robot does not perform exactly as advertised.
“The best factories answer a hard question with a specific one back. The weaker ones answer it with a brochure.”
A short list of questions separates a factory that has done this before from one still learning in public.
The questions that matter
How many units of this model are in service today, and for how long? What does the spare-parts pipeline look like outside the factory’s home market? Who handles a fault on-site, and how quickly? A factory with real deployment history answers each one with specifics.
A factory still early in its own rollout tends to answer in generalities — strong claims about capability, vaguer answers about service, parts and support once the machine has already shipped.
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY
Ask how many units of this exact model are already in service, and for how long.
Ask where spare parts are stocked outside the factory’s home market, not just at the factory.
Ask who handles an on-site fault, and how fast — get a number, not a promise.
A vague answer to a specific question is itself the answer worth noting.
The quality of the answer matters as much as the answer itself.
What a good answer looks like
A good answer names a number, a location or a process — units in service, where parts are stocked, who owns a fault. A weak answer restates the marketing material in different words.
The gap between the two is usually visible before a contract is signed, provided the buyer asks the question early enough to still walk away.
EDITORIAL RULE
Sourced or silent. Every figure on this page carries an attributed, dated source. Where we could not source a number, we left it out rather than estimate it.
SOURCES
- 01Factory audits2026
- 02N.O.N. Humanoid vetting notes2026
- 03Manufacturer service SLAs2026
- 04Operator interviewsQ1 2026
A QUESTION
One person answers — from the first email to the room.
EMAIL
WECHAT
nh_alliance
LINKEDIN
