Lead-Lag Live · 2026-05-27 · 11 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
35 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
This episode examines the emerging humanoid robotics market through the lens of COID, an ETF launched by USCF that tracks companies across the robotics value chain. Joe Dube walks through real-world deployments already happening - warehouse automation (package detection and sorting), elder care monitoring, security surveillance, and hazardous environment operations - demonstrating this isn't theoretical future tech but active business applications. The conversation covers the competitive landscape including Unitree, AGI Bot, Tesla Optimus, and Boston Dynamics on the hardware side, plus the component companies like Harmonic Drive (actuators) and RoboSense (sensors) that enable these systems. COID's structure uses equal weighting across ~30 pure-play and diversified robotics companies, avoiding concentration in mega-cap names like Tesla or NVIDIA while capturing upside from lesser-known critical suppliers. The episode emphasizes that technological convergence - miniaturized sensors from smartphones, advanced AI models, and new actuator designs - has created the conditions for rapid, month-over-month progress in embodied AI applications.
Warehouses deploy humanoids for detecting fallen packages and resorting items, elder care facilities use them for fall detection alerts, security teams deploy them for intruder detection in factories, and firefighting teams use quadruped robots for hazardous environments like forest fires.
COID uses equal weighting across ~30 holdings and focuses on the robotics value chain (actuators, sensors, AI software, manufacturers) rather than concentrating in mega-cap names, avoiding overlap with NVIDIA and Tesla exposure from other funds.
Smartphone sensors have become compact and cheap, AI models have advanced significantly, and new actuator technologies (requiring up to 45 per robot) have matured simultaneously, allowing autonomous applications to emerge.
Unitree is expected to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Tesla has announced plans to focus increasingly on robotics with its Optimus platform.
The supply chain includes the brain (embodied AI companies), the body (humanoid manufacturers), actuators (Harmonic Drive and similar), and sensors (like RoboSense).
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode covers real robotic applications and ETF composition at a surface level, but lacks analytical depth or surprising insights. Most claims are descriptive (listing robot types, use cases, fund structure) rather than revealing why the humanoid robotics sector matters economically or structurally. The conversation repeatedly states the space is 'real' and 'growing' without interrogating unit economics, competitive moats, or adoption timelines.
So um uh right now we've seen uh use cases from um our our partners at uh at RoboStore who run Unit North America uh have shown us some of their some of their real clients are buying it like um for uh warehouse deployment. It can detect like if a if a package falls off the conveyor bell, it can detect that, pick it up, you put it back into the assembly line.
And so that's why all of a sudden you have this, like it feels like it just popped up overnight. Right, right. Like the sensors got compact because of the fact your cell phone parallel is that, yeah. There's been all this AI advancement of so now you can have autonomous applications.
The framing is entirely conventional: humanoid robots as an emerging asset class, diversified ETF exposure via equal-weighting, and the standard 'supply chain enablement' story (actuators, sensors, AI). No contrarian positions, first-principles analysis, or challenging of the underlying assumptions are present. The discussion follows predictable venture/fintech podcast beats without fresh angles.
So um, like I said, it's because it's early stage, no clear winner has emerged. So I really like to take the ecosystem approach, take a basket approach to humanoids, right?
You've got the uh the the body, that's companies building the actuator, like the harmonic drive. But each robot's got like can have uh one robot can have like 45 actuators
Joe Dube from USCF (Crane Chair) is a practitioner actively launching and managing a robotics-focused ETF with real fund composition and rebalancing responsibility. This is substantive above pure analyst commentary. However, he is primarily a fund manager/product person rather than a founder or operator who built humanoid robots or deployed them at scale, limiting depth on the core technology and unit economics.
Yeah, so this is a Unitry uh G1 humanoid robot, right? Um, and uh uh this is the uh the base model goes for about $20,000. Uh you can get it from Unitree. And then um there's several different models. There's the EDU model that goes for about 80,000, it's more AI enabled.
Yeah, frequent rebalancing of the index, and um we're uh it's a passive fund, so uh it is rules-based, but we monitor uh the index constantly.
The episode includes concrete pricing ($20K base, $80K EDU model), specific company names (Unitree, Tesla, Boston Dynamics, RoboSense, X Peng), and real-world use cases (package detection on conveyor, elder care falls, firefighting). However, specificity is limited to product catalogs and anecdotes; there are no revenue figures, deployment numbers, TAM estimates, timelines, or competitive metrics that would justify investment decisions.
Yeah, so this is a Unitry uh G1 humanoid robot, right? Um, and uh uh this is the uh the base model goes for about $20,000. Uh you can get it from Unitree. And then um there's several different models. There's the EDU model that goes for about 80,000, it's more AI enabled.
Um uh it's like RoboCop type stuff. It's like more like it in your factory if someone like breaks bin, it can detect intruders.
The host asks softball, product-demo questions ("can we talk about what this exactly is?") and mostly lets the guest narrate with minimal follow-up or pushback. There are no probing questions about unit economics, customer acquisition, margin structures, or risks. The conversation reads as a press kit delivery rather than an investigative inquiry. The transcript also deteriorates significantly toward the end with incomplete sentences and mumbled closing.
Alright, so we're gonna live for okay, right. Uh another episode of Lead Lag Live uh from Future Proof, and this is gonna be a different type of conversation because uh if you haven't noticed, there's two entities here, one that's human, one that's not.
Yeah, no, and I'm a big fan of the thesis and the idea. And it's not like these are flat by nine companies, these are real companies are selling, and it's already fundamentally there's growth.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
And then I lose the uh great, yeah. The quality is surprisingly good. Like it looks like it's you know, real camera, pressure camera. Alright, so we're gonna live for okay, right.
Uh another episode of Lead Lag Live uh from Future Proof, and this is gonna be a different type of conversation because uh if you haven't noticed, there's two entities here, one that's human, one that's not. Uh we got the Koid humanoid here, and we've got Joe from Crane Chair. So uh Joe, uh I I gotta tell you, every time I see this, I get scared. Uh especially when it runs.
You know, it's actually terrifying. But uh can we talk about what this exactly is? Yeah, so this is a Unitry uh G1 humanoid robot, right? Um, and uh uh this is the uh the base model goes for about $20,000.
Uh you can get it from Unitree. And then um there's several different models. There's the EDU model that goes for about 80,000, it's more AI enabled. Yeah.
So uh this is kind of representation of the future of the network, right? So yeah, the future, not the present. That's uh right ahead. Um so this is it.
So the um Unitree is just one of the humanoid manufacturers that are out of there. Um uh there's uh the there's like it's been an explosion of of new humanoid companies, uh particularly in China. Yeah. You got Unitree, there's AGI bot, there's um Gale bot, NoahTix, Booster.
Um, and we've been meeting with all these companies at CES and met with them all. Um and we've been doing some factory tours in China, and uh those are the that's kind of the China ones, and then we've got obviously Tesla Optimus, a lot of buzz and enthusiasm for that. Um Boston Dynamics came out with their Atlas humanoid robot. Um, and so it's like uh uh we're seeing an explosion of of new entrants in this humanoid robot category.
Yeah. Uh but it's early days still. Um and so uh but this is this is not like a toy. Let's this actually does do things.
Yeah, this is a real robot. So um uh right now we've seen uh use cases from um our our partners at uh at RoboStore who run Unit North America uh have shown us some of their some of their real clients are buying it like um for uh warehouse deployment. It can detect like if a if a package falls off the conveyor bell, it can detect that, pick it up, you put it back into the assembly line. Um and uh it's also good for surveillance and security.
Um uh it's like RoboCop type stuff. It's like more like it in your factory if someone like breaks bin, it can detect intruders. Um like a watch win. Yeah, yeah.
So that's a great deployment. We're seeing there's uh healthcare applications like for elder care. Uh if if you have an elderly relative that lives uh by themselves and they they have a fall or something like that. Right, right, right.
Is it in your uh detecting an alert uh an alert the family that an incident? Um and then it's also in hazardous environments we're seeing this are deployed. So the the quadrupeds there, like the dogs, right? Uh we're seeing them used for firefighting.
Um and they can go in like uh in like forest fire or split hazardous kind of situation, you're gonna have to put human life. Right, right, right, right, right. And it's like people that say like it's it's we've talked about humanoids and robots, they're not here, they're not here. Like, no, they're here.
Like it's it's now we're like in the early stage of the actual deployment. So let's talk about the investment opportunities, right, when it comes to this thing. Arguably, this is where the next phase of AI is gonna go. Right, yeah.
So um, like I said, it's because it's early stage, no clear winner has emerged. So I really like to take the ecosystem approach, take a basket approach to humanoids, right? And so uh uh and it's also a global approach because uh it's not just US, it's not just China. Uh uh, we're seeing uh lots of developments uh in humanoids coming from Europe, uh Germany in particular, uh Korea, Japan, the US, and China.
And so what the way we structure Floyd is it's got the brain of the robot that's companies working on that embodied AI application, right? You've got the uh the the body, that's companies building the actuator, like the harm harmonic drive. But each robot's got like can have uh one robot can have like 45 actuators, and every everywhere you have a joint uh of movement, the robot is gonna require an actuator. So you can think um if there's gonna be uh uh a billion humanoid robots, how many actuator?
Um and so uh we like that. That's kind of the the the and the those those component companies work with all of the humanoids. Right, right, right. That's that's a great opportunity.
And then there's finally the uh the the people that are actually assembling and and shipping humanoids, like unitree. Right, right. Unitree is private right now, but they're about to go public on the Shanghai style. It looks like Shanghai.
Yeah, it's we're monitoring it, but uh probably be Shanghai. And uh you can have uh so I'm seeing more uh humanoid robot companies entering the the public markets and and and for your ETF COI, the nice thing about that is that I assume as these new companies go public, you're considering putting them in that fun, right? It's like you're gonna be on top of this for anyways. Yeah, frequent rebalancing of the index, and um we're uh it's a passive fund, so uh it is rules-based, but we monitor uh the index constantly.
And so uh uh when when a new entry comes, uh we we'll make sure that it gets included in deployed. How how pure player some of these companies are in KOI? Meaning if they just focus on robotics or are they mix with other types of services? There's there's some mixture, like um, like obviously like a Tesla.
Yeah. Um uh though, you know, Elon has come out and said they're they're going all in on robots. Recently it's becoming a robot company. Um we have uh and that that theme echoes over in China where there's X Peng um who kind of shocked the world.
They had the the the humanoid was so real when it walked out on stage that uh everyone thought it was a person stupid and then they cut they cut into the leg, you could see the metal. Um so yeah, that was impressive. Um and then like you have some of the actuator companies where there's tons of applications for these actuals. Right, right, right.
Right, yeah, right. Yeah. Um, but uh uh there are some like just like Ubitech is uh um Shanghai listed, just making humanoid robots for the factory. So um so there's a lot of pure place stuff.
So we have a Robosense in there. Um uh and they just do like the uh the sensor for humanoids. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
They also do autonomous lawnmowers. So I trust some uh got my lawn like that, but I mean that's fine. I believe there's a horror movie, but yeah, it is there will be at some point. No, we should do it.
Funded by COI. Um okay, so it's it's it's obviously it's real. COID's gotten some big traction and attention. Um how do you think about how allocators should think about COID?
Meaning, is this something that's like a core thematic fund? Is it satellite? Yeah, how do you how do you think about it? I mean, I think uh most uh a lot of people were seeing the systematic.
If you have allocation deck, uh this fits right now. But it's diversified. So you're not you're not um and we're really careful to make sure it's diversified. Uh how many holders?
We um uh how many? I think it's uh 30, around 30. Um but uh uh we we do an equal weight uh methodology. So we're not you're not getting 30 percent tests.
Sorry, all right. You probably already own Tesla. Um you gotta check if uh other funds that that are just giving you double overlap to NVIDIA and Tesla, it's not what you really want. So we've equal weighted it.
Um and then it's um you got some uh like rare earths in there, yeah, but like MP materials that uh uh the US, the only US playing with this play, we're buying them. So uh we've seen some good like geopolitical resilience that are run because of that uh composition. And you're getting this embodied AI that's not just giving you mag 7. So you're looking kind of to step out of the your concentration.
Uh uh, we think coid is a good play. Yeah, no, and I'm a big fan of the thesis and the idea. And it's not like these are flat by nine companies, these are real companies are selling, and it's already fundamentally there's growth. Exactly.
But it might be the is like a uh you may never have heard of RoboSense, whatever. They could have the sensor that's in every one of these. Uh even or for embodied AI. Which is the nice thing about the ETF wrapper, what you guys are doing, because you don't have to, as the individual investor, try to identify who these companies are, you're doing it for them.
Yeah, and one of the things like um uh that we're seeing is all these technologies are advancing in tandem. Yep. And so that's why all of a sudden you have this, like it feels like it just popped up overnight. Right, right.
Like the sensors got compact because of the fact your cell phone parallel is that, yeah. There's been all this AI advancement of so now you can have autonomous applications. Right. Um and and so like uh uh this is why you're seeing it now.
And what I tell everybody, and I've seen this now firsthand since we launched the fund, that the progress is happening, is measured in months. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh so like I don't know where we're gonna be at in a couple like given six months from now, the uh the applications we've already configured with our robots, stuff I wouldn't have dreamed of card course. So I'm just so pumped.
Uh it's an exciting space that there's no question that it's it's here, it's here to say it's gonna grow exponentially. So the investment updates are very real. So congrats on launching Koid. Thank you.
If anybody that wants to learn more about KOI, there you go. Uh aside from talking to Robot, where should they go? Uh so if you want to learn more, uh it's uh our website's crane shares.com.
That's crane shares with a K uh.com slash Koid. You can just Google KOID and uh it'll pop up. You'll see all the videos of we've had KOI running around uh the world meet.
Yeah. You ring the Nasdaq belt with Koid, you rang the London stock exchange. Uh we listed it over in UCIT's uh in October. We've gone viral with a couple of uh Yeah, it's uh it's a great way to do it now.
And his his name, yeah, I assume it's um I got I skew keep it like uh good enough. Here at Future Proof, uh we've gotten a broad range of appeals. Yeah, it's like I think you can uh same her kind of thing. I was like, uh it's it's it's coid.
Yeah. Yeah, it's oid. So uh thank you. Thank you very much for watching.
Uh clapping. It was clapping. Alright, Johnny, I'm gonna say I gotta I gotta let me just see my brain for this one.
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