Author: Huobi Growth Academy

summary

In 2026, the deep integration of AI, robotics, and Web3 infrastructure is giving rise to a new narrative—the Web3 Robots sector. This sector is no longer just a conceptual hype but has entered a crucial stage of real-world application implementation. This research report systematically outlines the definition and development logic of the Web3 Robots sector and deeply analyzes the technical architecture, financing background, market performance, and participation opportunities of representative projects such as OpenMind, PrismaX, peaq, Virtuals Protocol, Geodnet, and XMAQUINA from three dimensions: the infrastructure layer (operating system, data layer, network layer), the machine economy layer (tokenization platform, location network), and the application implementation layer (DePIN investment). The research finds that this sector is forming a three-layer collaborative architecture of "data layer training intelligence—system layer unified standards—network layer incentivizing collaboration," with machines transforming from closed tools into autonomous economic entities with on-chain identities, payment capabilities, and collaborative networks. Although it is still in the early stage, mainly focused on building underlying capabilities, the emergence of real-world profit cases (such as the 18% APY of the peaq ecosystem robot farm) signifies that the sector has moved from a concept to an observable and participatory stage of substantial development. For investors, focusing on the actual deployment scale of a project, its business closed-loop capabilities, and the quality of institutional endorsements will be key to capturing the next 100x opportunity.

I. Definition and Evolution of the Track: From Automation Tools to On-Chain Economic Entities

Robotics is not a new technology. Over the past decade, automated equipment such as industrial robotic arms, warehouse robots, and drones have been deployed on a large scale in manufacturing, logistics, and other industries. However, these robots are essentially tools within closed systems—they execute preset instructions but lack the ability to recognize identities, make autonomous decisions, exchange value, and collaborate across platforms. As AI big data models endow machines with the ability to "think," and blockchain technology provides the infrastructure for identity and settlement, a completely new paradigm is emerging: machines are no longer merely hardware, but autonomous economic agents capable of possessing on-chain identities, autonomously completing transactions, and participating in real-world production.

The core driving force behind this transformation comes from the maturity of technologies on three levels. First, breakthroughs in embodied AI. Large language models and multimodal models have enabled robots to possess natural language understanding, environmental perception, and task planning capabilities. For example, OpenMind's OM1 operating system integrates perception, memory, reasoning, and action into a unified framework, allowing robots to evolve from "being able to move" to "being able to understand and think." Second, the rise of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN). Blockchain provides physical devices with identity authentication (DID), trusted data recording, and automated settlement capabilities, enabling machines to participate in market transactions as economic agents. Third, the maturity of stablecoins and Layer 2. Efficient micropayment infrastructure enables high-frequency, small-amount settlements between machines, laying the financial foundation for the machine economy.

Forbes predicted in its 2026 forecast that blockchain will become the trust network for AI, with every significant agency action recorded in a lightweight ledger, enabling compliance, governance, and accountability. This means that the Web3 Robots sector is essentially building a new economic system that allows machines to prove themselves, trust others, create value, and participate in distribution. This system consists of a three-layer architecture: the bottom layer is the operating system that endows machines with intelligence (such as OpenMind OM1); the middle layer is the protocol layer that provides identity and collaboration networks (such as OpenMind FABRIC and peaq); and the top layer is the labor market and tokenization platform for application scenarios (such as Konnex and Virtuals). The synergy of this three-layer architecture is reshaping robots from "tools" into "digital citizens."

II. Infrastructure Layer: Co-evolution of Operating Systems, Data, and Networks

The underlying infrastructure development in the Web3 Robots field is progressing simultaneously across multiple dimensions. Among the most representative examples are OpenMind's deployment at the operating system layer, PrismaX's exploration at the data layer, and Peaq's construction at the network layer. These three projects together form a complete closed-loop infrastructure of "system-data-network," providing the foundation for the operation of upper-layer applications.

OpenMind is hailed as the "Android of robotics." Its core products include the open-source AI-native robot operating system OM1 and the decentralized collaboration network FABRIC. OM1, licensed under the MIT license, has garnered over 2,500 stars on GitHub, attracting more than 500 global contributors and over 7,500 independent developers. Unlike traditional robot operating systems (ROS) that focus solely on motion control and navigation, OM1 integrates four modules: perception, memory, reasoning, and action, supporting advanced functions such as natural language interaction, environmental mapping, and object recognition. Currently, OM1 is compatible with over 10 leading hardware manufacturers, including Unitree Robotics, Fourier Intelligence, UBTECH, and Deep Robotics, covering various forms such as humanoid robots, quadruped robots, and robotic arms. The FABRIC protocol constructs a decentralized machine collaboration network, assigning each robot an on-chain identity (peaq ID), supporting skill sharing, task coordination, and USDC micropayment settlement between machines. In February 2026, FABRIC Protocol (ROBO) was listed on Binance Alpha and Binance Futures, with a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $140 million. It subsequently listed on major exchanges such as OKX, Coinbase, and Kraken. The project completed a funding round of approximately $20 million in August 2025, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from top institutions such as Coinbase Ventures, DCG, and Sequoia China. Its latest valuation was approximately $200 million, and the Kaito Launchpad pre-sale valuation reached $400 million FDV. Current participation points include the Season 1 points program, NFT minting through the FABRIC Identity Network, and GitHub code contributions, with strong expectations for an airdrop.

PrismaX is hailed as a "gold mine" of physical world training data. If algorithms are the "brain" of a robot, then data is its nourishment. PrismaX positions itself at the AI ​​robot data layer, solving the most scarce problem in robot training—"physical world interaction data"—through a human-machine collaboration (RLHF) model. Its platform allows users to remotely control a real robotic arm to perform actions via a webpage. The system records the operational data and sells it to robotics companies for AI training, while users earn points that can be redeemed for future tokens. This "Play-to-Train" model creates a data flywheel: more user participation brings more data, more data trains better models, and better models attract even more users. PrismaX recently completed an $11 million seed round of funding, led by top venture capital firm a16z, with participation from Virtuals Protocol. Currently, over 500 participants in the ecosystem have completed remote robotic arm operations, and two complete, operable robotic arm systems (Unitech Walker "Tommy" and "Bill") have been launched. Users can earn points through daily check-ins, white paper quizzes, and even paid training ($99), with the market anticipating future airdrops. The risks lie in the potential influx of numerous "bot-training studios" that could dilute the value of these points, and the industry debate surrounding whether remotely manipulated data can truly train commercial-grade robots.

PeaQ is a Layer-1 network for the machine economy. Designed specifically for the machine economy, PeaQ's core functions include machine identities (PeaQ IDs), on-chain wallets, access control, and nanosecond-level time synchronization, supporting autonomous transactions by millions of robots and devices. Unlike many DePIN projects that remain conceptual, PeaQ has already established a successful real-world business loop. Its Hong Kong Robo-farm uses automated robots to grow hydroponic vegetables. Users purchase NFTs representing farm shares, and the revenue generated from vegetable sales is converted into stablecoins and distributed directly on-chain to NFT holders. The first revenue distribution at the end of January 2026 showed a single transaction yielding 3820 USDT, an annualized return of approximately 18%. This model of "earning money by selling vegetables, not through token inflation" makes PeaQ a prime example of RWA (Real-World Asset) implementation. In terms of partnerships, PeaQ has collaborated with industrial giants such as Bosch, Mastercard, and Airbus on technology verification, covering areas such as IoT sensors, payment gateway integration, and supply chain tracking. The mainnet launched in 2024, with a current circulating market capitalization of approximately $34.25 million and a FDV of approximately $78 million. There are already 50-60 DePIN applications running within the ecosystem, connecting over 2 million physical devices. The token $PEAQ is primarily used for gas and staking. The "Get Real" campaign is ongoing, with a reward pool of 210 million $PEAQ (worth over $100 million). Users can earn XP/NP and claim tokens by completing real-world DePIN tasks.

The relationship between these three is like that of a complete production system: PrismaX provides the data "raw materials" to train the robot, OpenMind's OM1 provides the "operating system" to enable the robot to run intelligently, and Peaq provides the "network and incentive layer" to enable the robot to complete economic settlements. The three work together to form a complete infrastructure stack for decentralized embodied intelligence.

III. The Financial Layer of the Machine Economy: Tokenization Platforms and Location Networks

Once the infrastructure layer has solved the problems of "how machines become smarter" and "how machines collaborate," the financial layer of the machine economy begins to emerge. The core issue addressed at this layer is: how to price, trade, and circulate the value of machines? Virtuals Protocol and Geodnet offer answers from different perspectives.

Virtuals Protocol is a tokenization platform for AI agents/bots, allowing the community to participate in the issuance, staking, and governance of agents. Its core mechanisms include the Pegasus/Unicorn ecosystem, the ACP (Agent Commerce Protocol) marketplace, and the Butler tool. The ACP marketplace enables trustless commercial transactions between AI agents, supporting a fully on-chain process for task publishing, verification, and settlement. In March 2026, Virtuals collaborated with the Ethereum Foundation's dAI team to develop the ERC-8183 standard (Agentic Commerce), introducing working primitives with on-chain custody, evaluator authentication, and modular hooks, enabling trustless commercial transactions between agents. Data shows that on-chain revenue between agents on Virtuals has exceeded $3 million (excluding transaction fees), marking the scale of verifiable economic output created entirely by AI agents. The token $VIRTUAL was launched at the end of 2023 and currently has a market capitalization of approximately $500 million, and is listed on major centralized exchanges such as Gate.io. The weekly Epoch airdrop system is active, distributing rewards based on veVIRTUAL staking and Butler usage, with 2% going to stakers and 3% to ecosystem participants. In early 2026, Virtuals also partnered with OpenMind's FABRIC protocol. After robots acquire economic identity through FABRIC, they can receive tasks from agents and perform on-chain settlements via ACP, achieving deep integration between the machine economy layer and the infrastructure layer.

Geodnet is touted as a centimeter-level navigation infrastructure for robots. Built on Solana, Geodnet is a decentralized, high-precision positioning network that provides RTK (Real-Time Kinematic Differential) centimeter-level navigation services for robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles. Its network consists of globally distributed reference stations. Node operators earn $GEOD tokens by deploying hardware, while users access the positioning data through subscription services. Geodnet's business model features a typical "real revenue" characteristic: 80% of data revenue is used for the buyback and burning of $GEOD, creating a deflationary mechanism. At CES in January 2026, Geodnet showcased the Geoswarm home security drone, which can automatically take off from a compact rooftop dock, complete patrols using GEODNET's high-precision positioning data, and then automatically return to land, all without human intervention. In addition, Geodnet has launched consumer-facing in-vehicle RTK hardware ($150) and an RTK measurement receiver ($695), the latter winning a CES Innovation Award. Geodnet has raised over $15 million in total funding, including a round led by Multicoin Capital. The token has been migrated from Polygon to Solana and is now available for trading on Coinbase. For investors, Geodnet's buyback and burn mechanism and real hardware sales provide value support, and it's worth noting that its node deployment rewards and staking rewards mechanisms are still actively operating.

From a financial perspective, Virtuals Protocol solves the "liquidity" problem of AI agents—allowing their capabilities to be tokenized, traded, and priced; Geodnet solves the "spatial awareness" problem of robots—enabling machines to accurately locate and navigate in the physical world. Together, they expand the boundaries of the machine economy: the former allows the value of machines to circulate in the digital world, while the latter makes the activities of machines in the physical world more precise and reliable.

IV. Application and Implementation: From DePIN Investing to Real-World Assets

The infrastructure and financial layers form the "skeleton" and "blood" of the Web3 Robots sector, but what truly determines the sector's vitality is whether the application layer can create value in the real world. XMAQUINA and Robonomics have explored this proposition from different dimensions.

XMAQUINA is a DAO-governed robotics investment bank. XMAQUINA is a DePIN project that invests in and tokenizes real humanoid robot companies through DAO governance, allowing token holders to share in the profits of these robotics companies. Its core mechanisms include a "Robotics Bank" and a Machine Economy Launchpad. The DAO allocates capital to promising robotics companies (such as Apptronik and Figure AI) and manages it professionally through a SubDAO mechanism. In January 2026, XMAQUINA completed its final public auction, with the community investing over $3.25 million in less than 30 minutes, bringing its total funding to $10 million. The TGE of the token $DEUS is expected to activate in January-February 2026, with 33% unlocked at TGE and 67% released linearly. Current participation points include holding $DEUS to participate in governance voting and profit sharing, paying attention to DAO proposals and staking mechanisms, and the upcoming Launchpad project. XMAQUINA's model is essentially a "bot-based investment fund," which lowers the barrier for ordinary investors to participate in early-stage investments in robotics companies, while decentralizing investment decisions through DAO governance.

Robonomics is one of the earliest Web3 bot coordination platforms. A pioneer in the Web3 bot field, Robonomics launched its testnet as early as 2018, providing bot cloud services and smart contract task allocation capabilities. Its core capabilities include IoT device integration, on-chain sensor data, and automated task execution. Robonomics' token, $XRT, was issued in 2019 and is listed on exchanges such as Kraken, but its market capitalization is relatively small, classifying it as a veteran project in the field. Compared to newer projects, Robonomics' ecosystem is relatively mature but its growth is sluggish, lacking recent large-scale airdrops or incentive events. It is more suitable for long-term investors focusing on IoT and bot integration for observation and holding.

Notably, more innovative models are emerging at the application implementation level. The "Universal Basic Ownership Pilot" project within the PeaQ ecosystem explores inclusive ownership of machine assets, while the tokenized machine deployment mechanism allows ordinary users to invest in and share in the operational revenue of robots. Furthermore, the Virtuals ecosystem has seen the emergence of agents such as ArAIstotle ($FACY), achieving 382,000 queries, 8,000 users, and $760,000 in tax revenue, representing a 413-fold month-over-month increase in ACP, demonstrating the enormous potential of the AI ​​agent economy.

V. Challenges, Risks and Future Outlook

Despite the immense potential of the Web3 Robots sector, it is still in its early stages of development and faces numerous challenges and risks.

From a technical perspective, the hardware reliability and environmental adaptability of robots remain bottlenecks. As Jan Liphardt, founder of OpenMind, stated, the reliability of key components such as dexterous hands remains a challenge. If a robotic hand with five fingers and 12 degrees of freedom malfunctions after 100 hours of operation, its practical value will be greatly reduced. Furthermore, the gap between simulation tools and real-world environments, as well as the need for human voice interaction simulation in social robots, all require continuous technological breakthroughs.

In terms of valuation, some projects face the risk of overvaluation and low liquidity. For example, OpenMind's Kaito Launchpad pre-sale valuation reached $400 million FDV, more than double its previous funding round valuation ($200 million), potentially exhausting secondary market potential and facing selling pressure from early-stage VC unlocks. Investors should be wary of projects with excessively high "narrative premiums" but actual implementation progress falling short of expectations.

In terms of data quality, data layer projects like PrismaX face the risk of an influx of "feeder-grabbing studios." If project teams cannot effectively filter high-quality training data, points will lose their value, ultimately leading to intense pressure during airdrops. How to incentivize user participation while ensuring data quality is a challenge that all data layer projects need to address.

In terms of the competitive landscape, traditional robot manufacturers tend to adopt closed systems (such as Tesla's Optimus), similar to Apple's iOS model. Whether open-source "Android models" like OpenMind can survive in the cracks between giants depends on their ability to attract enough mid-sized hardware manufacturers to form a collaborative ecosystem.

Looking ahead, the Web3 Robots sector will evolve along three main lines: First, standardization. A2A (Agent-to-Agent) communication protocols are becoming the common language for robots and agents, much like HTTP unified the early internet; A2A will become the underlying communication layer for the autonomous world. Second, real revenue. The PeaQ robot farm case demonstrates that Web3 robot projects can generate real cash flow independent of token inflation. More projects will explore business models such as "Device-as-a-Service" and "Robot-as-an-Asset." Third, compliance and governance. As robots become more deeply involved in economic activities, regulators will require AI decisions to be explainable and traceable. The immutable ledger of blockchain will become a key infrastructure for meeting compliance requirements.

VI. Conclusion: Participation Strategies and Investment Logic

The Web3 Robots sector is at a critical juncture, transitioning from proof-of-concept to large-scale deployment. For investors and ecosystem participants, the core strategy now should be: focus on building underlying capabilities, tracking real-world deployment scale, and seizing early-mover opportunities.

From a niche perspective, infrastructure layer projects (OpenMind, peaq) have higher certainty and stronger competitive advantages, but their valuations may have already partially reflected expectations; data layer projects (PrismaX) have high elasticity but are accompanied by data quality risks; financial layer projects (Virtuals) and application layer projects (XMAQUINA) rely more on the prosperity of the ecosystem and the activity of the community.

Looking back at the evolution of the mobile phone industry from the "era of counterfeit phones" to the "Android/iOS duopoly," the Web3 robotics sector may be experiencing a similar early stage. As the founder of OpenMind stated, the future will not have just one winner, but rather many powerful participants. For investors focusing on this sector, now is a window of opportunity to observe, learn, and selectively participate. The future of machines becoming the main players in the blockchain economy is moving from science fiction into reality.