The start date slips again: robot production now due end of August
On 13 July 2026 President Aleksandar Vučić said humanoid-robot production in the western town of Šabac would begin by the end of August, once the agreement with the investor had been finalised. For anyone tracking the project, the news is less the start date than the pattern: this is the third timeline the same plant has been given in under three months.
A moving date
- Late May: production to begin between 10 and 20 July (Tanjug), and separately “by 15 July” — “in two months we will have humanoid robots.”
- 13 July: start moved to end of August; an opening event in Šabac is floated for 22 or 29 August.
The partners are unchanged: Chinese robotics firm AGIBOT for the AI and Minth, the automotive-parts group already operating in Loznica and Šabac, for the industrial side. The first phase remains assembly of humanoid robots plus localisation of AI data-training.
Why a slipped date matters — and why it doesn't
Start dates for first-of-a-kind plants move; that alone is not a scandal. What a slip does change is how much weight to put on the surrounding claims. A date announced three times and met zero times is a reason to treat the volume, jobs and export figures as targets rather than schedule. It is equally a reason not to over-read the delay: a few weeks on a project of this scale is noise, not failure.
Production would start by the end of August after the agreement with the investor had been finalised.
What we'll watch
The checkable question in late August is narrow and worth stating plainly: did assembly actually begin in Šabac, on what line, and with what first output — not whether a ribbon was cut. Rojium tracks the regional robotics market, so we will report the answer against this date rather than rewrite it.
Sources
- bne IntelliNews — Serbia to launch Chinese-backed humanoid robot production in August
- MinexForum — Serbia Secures €953M in New Chinese Investments, Including Humanoid Robot Production
- Tanjug — Manufacture of robots in Serbia to begin between July 10 and 20
- Nova Ekonomija — Stižu humanoidni roboti, samo kasne
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