Do ROBO and RBTZ Capture the Humanoid Era?

Robotics – A Theme for 2026?

I have been watching the BOTT ETF in the last couple of weeks. It is listed on the NASDAQ under the full name Themes Humanoid Robotics ETF (BOTT).

BOTT shot up after the Las Vegas CES 2026 conference on January 6–9 after Hyundai (Korean, of course) presented, outlining a “robot roadmap” which focused on what they called robots “partnering human progress”. It is all about the integration and development of AI and robotics. They talked about a world in which humans are freed from repetition (and risk – get your robot to climb the ladder and clean the upstairs windows).

The main elements of the robot roadmap were a “liberated everyday life” – no boring jobs, “learning ecosystems” – a cycle where robots learn from robots and systems learn from systems, creating a continuous loop of evolution, “data-driven progress” – every interaction between humans and AI robotics is seen as a “data” input driving “the next cycle of innovation”, and they described the current era as the “dawn of infinite possibility”, where AI and robotics are the catalysts for “a new cycle of global progress”.

The dollars – the global robotics market is projected to reach US$372.6 billion by 2034, reflecting a 14.7% CAGR, which, if true, suggests the industry doubles in five years and quadruples in ten.

The BOTT ETF has 50% of its holdings in Korea. I’ll name the stocks in case you see them around in other ETFs. BOTT has a 14.6% holding in Hyulim ROBOT Co Ltd, an 11.6% weighting in Neuromeka Co Ltd, 8.9% in Yujin Robot Co Ltd, 5.9% in T-Robotics Co Ltd, 4.4% in Rainbow Robotics and 3.7% in Clobot Co Ltd. They represent the South Korean robotics sector. BOTT is branded as a humanoid robotics ETF tracking the Solactive Global Humanoid Robotics Index.

The way Hyundai sparked a huge price rise obviously piques interest in the Australian-listed robotics-based ETFs, including ROBO by Global X and RBTZ by Betashares. We have to be a little bit careful because during CES, a host of investors are looking for a theme, and interest can peak during the conference, which means it will inevitably fade over time unless “fed” by other developments. BOTT is coming off the top already.

What is of more interest is the long-term robotics theme and, as I research it, I realise that none of this is particularly new, with the ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ) having been around since 2014, which has already significantly outperformed the S&P 500 and is currently overbought on a weekly chart, having jumped from $60 to $130 since April last year.

But the trend is up, the development of robotics is undeniable, and at some point, as momentum traders push down on one theme, the “physical AI” theme is sitting there like a big fat target.

 

ETF SNAPSHOT – ROBO and RBTZ

So let’s look at ROBO and RBTZ and contrast and compare.

---

 

Holdings Compared

 

ETFs Compared

• They are both passive index-based ETFs (unlike ARKQ, which is actively managed).
• They share significant thematic and stock-level exposure to the vision of robotics outlined by ARK and Hyundai.
• Twenty holdings are in both ROBO and RBTZ.
• ARKQ has a 12.7% investment in Tesla (the top stock in this theme). ROBO has a 1% holding, and RBTZ isn’t exposed. A bit irrelevant, really.
• ARKQ’s third-largest holding, Teradyne (7.9%), is held by ROBO (only 1.75%).
• ARKQ has a 5.1% holding in AeroVironment (defence and autonomous systems), and RBTZ has a 3.1% holding.
• ROBO is seemingly (in its marketing) targeted at all applications (an “unconstrained approach”), from healthcare and consumer services to autonomous vehicles, which are the inevitable future of motoring. Sorry, but the ICE is already a dinosaur, and the arguments against them in a big country like Australia will evaporate – you watch. EVs will be offering a 5,000 km range one day, if not an infinite range.
• RBTZ’s strategy is described as an investment in the production and use of AI. “Neural networks” and “intelligent devices” (sectors that ARK tells us will drive robotic evolution). Net result: whilst ROBO has 77 holdings, the biggest being 1.94%, RBTZ has a 10.7% holding in Nvidia.
• RBTZ is more concentrated. The top 10 holdings in RBTZ account for 60% of the total ETF. The top 10 holdings of the ROBO ETF account for 17% of the ETF.

This is ROBO’s top 10 holdings:

This is RBTZ’s top 10 holdings:

• Neither of them holds enough Tesla for this theme.
• RBTZ is more of a rock in a sock (87% of it is in 25 stocks) and needs Nvidia to perform, whilst ROBO offers you a long list of small holdings.

---

Ultimately, ETFs attract more money from the marketing of the theme than the fundamentals of the stocks (certainly in this market), and in the robotics theme, that means finding buyers who are excited by the concept and are prepared to ignore the lack of value in the underlying stocks. So the question is not whether the ROBO and RBTZ constituents aren’t cheap – they aren’t – but whether the momentum monsters will turn their attention to the robotics theme and buy ROBO and RBTZ.

There is a good chance that they will.

• You buy RBTZ if you think Nvidia is a good stock. You buy ROBO if not.
• ROBO, with less concentration at the top end and more stocks in total, will give you a more muted performance than RBTZ but is more diversified (safer).
• I would like to do more research on the other top 10 holdings in RBTZ to see if they are truly exposed to the theme or just paying lip service. If I were Global X or Betashares, I would refresh these ETFs regularly to ensure they aren’t missing emerging players in the theme. It’s a fast-moving technology, and the winners and losers will emerge. My guess is that many of the stocks in these ETFs are a waste of time.
• I’d prefer to see a FANG-style ETF with the “top ten robotics stocks”. Holding 50 to 70 stocks in any ETF that isn’t an index ETF but is a thematic ETF is a cop out. Give us your best stocks in every theme, I say, not all stocks, so no one sues you for getting it wrong.
• The other option is “buy both”, as I used to tell clients who couldn’t decide whether to buy CBA, NAB, WBC or ANZ. “Buy them all”.

If you are more flexible than the Strategy Portfolio, which is limited to ASX-listed ETFs, I would probably trawl the US market for better exposures. Here is a list of possibilities:

Meanwhile, we are keen to buy the theme for the long term, but understand there is no value in ROBO or RBTZ (not cheap). The question is “when” will the theme attract the herd, and the interest is that, as with BOTT, it could happen suddenly, given the right news.

We are getting more relaxed about the market but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. We would like to see a few things drop into place – most notably the tariff court case, the Big Tech results season (this week and next week), and for some upside momentum to develop outside of the narrow themes of “everything resources”.

The headline line to this was “Robotics – A Theme for 2026?” It ends with a question mark. If the title had been “Robotics – A Theme for the Rest of Our Lives”, it wouldn’t have a question mark.