AIBT's Robotics Partner Stole The Show At CES 2026

Checkers
22 hours ago
3 min read

Most humanoid robots at trade shows are glorified mannequins. They stand on a platform, wave on command, and go back in a crate when the cameras stop rolling. KEENON Robotics brought something different to CES 2026. The company showcased its XMAN-R1 humanoid on American soil for the first time, and the robot spent the week greeting attendees by name, handing out candy, pouring drinks, and making heart shapes with its hands. KEENON is the same company that Aibotics Inc (OTCID: $AIBT) signed a

distribution partnership with last September, and AIBT attended CES 2026 right alongside them.

Robot bartender holding bottles, set in a bar with blurred background. Text: "KEENON Engineered to Serve XMAN-R1". Futuristic vibe.

XMAN-R1 runs on KOM2.0, KEENON's proprietary Vision-Language-Action model and the first of its kind built specifically for service environments. The system integrates vision, speech, and movement into a single framework, so the robot can interpret human intentions and respond in real time rather than running through a pre-programmed script. At CES that meant greeting people by name as they approached, reading the room and initiating interactions on its own, pouring drinks, and handing out candy to attendees who stopped at the booth. KEENON also used the show to unveil the KEENMOW K1, an autonomous lawn mower powered by 3D LiDAR-Vision fusion that marks the company's first push into outdoor consumer robotics, alongside its full commercial lineup of cleaning and delivery robots that are already deployed in restaurants and hotels worldwide.

The best example of what KEENON's full ecosystem looks like in practice came two months before CES, when the Shangri-La Traders Hotel in Shanghai deployed XMAN-R1 as a permanent greeter that welcomes guests with natural language conversation and presents them with a gift on arrival, while a full fleet of KEENON specialized robots handles the rest of the operation: W3 units run room deliveries, S100 transports move luggage, T10 and T3 robots deliver food in the restaurant, and C40 cleaners handle the floors. That made Shangri-La the first hotel in the world to operate a coordinated humanoid and specialized robot workforce, and the system is still running today.

Robotic exhibition booth displaying various Keenon robots on a wooden floor. Large screen shows a smartphone app. Text: KEENON ROBOTICS, KEENMOW K1.

KEENON ranks first globally in commercial service robot shipments according to IDC with 22.7% market share, has moved over 100,000 units across 60+ countries, and raised $228 million in funding including a $200 million Series D from SoftBank in 2021. AIBT signed a distribution partnership with KEENON last September that covers the full product lineup. The company already has units deployed in Tel Aviv and recently signed a three-year exclusive distribution agreement with Cannibble Food-Tech (CSE: $PLCN). A second territory is already in motion through an LOI to acquire NovaCore Labs that extends KEENON's footprint across Jamaica and the 15-nation CARICOM trade bloc, and the Cannibble agreement names North America, Latin America, and the broader Middle East as the next expansion targets.

The American hospitality market is the largest in the world, and it is running out of people to do the work. Hotel employment is still below pre-pandemic levels, over 90% of operators can't fill positions, and service robotics is projected to hit $131 billion by 2032 as the industry stops treating automation as optional. CES 2026 was the first time most American operators got to see what KEENON's technology looks like in person, from a humanoid greeter that reads the room and responds in real time to the full fleet of delivery, transport, and cleaning robots already running in hotels overseas. AIBT is already distributing KEENON's full product lineup in Israel and the Caribbean, and CES 2026 just showed the largest hospitality market on earth exactly what's coming next.

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