Zhejiang Robot Industry Association
Zhejiang University Robotics Institute
Golden Conference & Exhibition Group
Shanghai Top Sequoia Exhibition Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Berrick Exhibition Co., Ltd.
Journalists of This Journal: Zhang Yan, Zheng Xue, Song Jie, Guo Zhiqiang, Niu Chaoge
Unitree Humanoid Robot | Photographed by Xiao Yi, Chief Photojournalist of This Journal
On April 19 by the Tongming Lake in Beijing E-Town, the 21.0975-kilometer half-marathon track split the venue into two parallel spaces — human runners and humanoid robots staged an interspecies race here. This marked the world’s first half-marathon exclusively for humanoid robots.
The competing humanoid robots came in a rich variety of forms. There was the towering 1.8-meter-high Tiangong Ultra, the cute compact robot 0306 Giant Junior, the swift Little Rascal, and Huanhuan, a hyper-realistic female humanoid robot.
A total of 20 teams from universities, research institutes and enterprises across Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang and other regions lined up at the starting line of the humanoid robot half-marathon.
Beyond the marathon track, an even fiercer industrial competition has swept across the country. At the national level, a series of policies targeting humanoid robots have been rolled out covering standardized rule guidance, industrial strategic layout and innovation stimulation. Many local governments have followed up with tailored development measures to fuel industrial innovation and upgrading, with industrial clusters centered on humanoid robots taking initial shape nationwide.
Capital has also rushed into this emerging track, with billions of yuan pouring into the robotics sector. No longer merely sophisticated exhibits confined to laboratories, humanoid robots have become core strategic assets for all cities vying to seize the commanding heights of future industries. According to the 2025 Research Report on Humanoid Robots and Embodied AI, China’s humanoid robot market size is projected to reach RMB 8.239 billion in 2025, accounting for roughly 50% of the global total.
After 2 hours and 40 minutes of racing, Tiangong Ultra developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center crossed the finish line first to claim the championship.
“We started preparations for this competition half a year ago and encountered constant new challenges,” staff from the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center told reporters after the race. The R&D team overcame hardware bottlenecks including poor ontology stability, excessive overall weight and overheating joints under prolonged operation. By optimizing motion control algorithms, they greatly improved joint coordination, gait planning and adaptability to complex terrain.
Tiangong Ultra’s outstanding performance stems from Beijing’s integrated four-in-one innovation ecosystem covering policies, capital, industries and application scenarios. Back in June 2023, the Beijing Municipal Government issued the Beijing Robotics Industry Innovation and Development Action Plan (2023–2025), setting the goal of building a global hub for robotics technological innovation, a benchmark zone for application demonstration and a high-end industrial cluster. Against this backdrop, the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center was jointly founded by leading industry players including UBtech, Jingcheng Electromechanical and Xiaomi Robotics. It brings together top global research talent, with R&D personnel making up over 70% of its workforce.
In 2025, Beijing further ramped up support for the robotics industry. In March, multiple municipal departments jointly released the Beijing Embodied AI Technology Innovation and Industrial Cultivation Action Plan (2025–2027). It targets the following milestones by 2027: achieving no fewer than 100 breakthrough core technologies, launching over 10 world-leading software and hardware products, supporting more than 100 innovation entities in technological R&D, cultivating over 50 core enterprises across the industrial chain, rolling out at least 50 mass-produced robot models, realizing over 100 large-scale commercial applications, taking the lead in hitting an annual mass production volume of 10,000 units, and fostering a hundred-billion-yuan industrial cluster.
Driven by policy guidance, capital inflows have accelerated. In January 2024, the RMB 10 billion Beijing Robotics Industry Development Fund was officially established, focusing on complete robot manufacturing, core component production and innovative scenario deployment. Fueled by both policies and capital, Beijing’s robotics industry agglomeration effect has grown increasingly prominent.
Take Beijing E-Town as an example. This industrial hub hosts more than 300 ecosystem enterprises including Xiaomi Robotics and UBtech, forming a complete industrial system covering core components and six major robot categories. Its industrial chain output exceeds RMB 10 billion, accounting for 50% of Beijing’s total robotics industry scale. To expand real-world deployment, Beijing launched the Double-Hundred Initiative, facilitating the launch of 78 innovative robot products across 93 application scenarios. In intelligent manufacturing, locally developed robots have been deployed in critical links such as screen replacement for 3C smart factories and precision assembly of aerospace components, demonstrating robust industrial vitality and broad application potential.
Unitree Humanoid Robot | Photographed by Xiao Yi, Chief Photojournalist of This JournalBooster T1 Humanoid Robot | Photographed by Xiao Yi, Chief Photojournalist of This Journal
Beyond Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and other cities have also stepped up layout of the humanoid robot industry.
In 2022, accelerating intelligent robot development was listed on Shanghai’s agenda for high-end industrial transformation. The Shanghai Action Plan for High-Quality
Development of Intelligent Terminal Industries (2022–2025) released that year aimed to cultivate a hundred-billion-yuan intelligent robot industry by 2025. In October 2023, the Shanghai Action Plan for High-Quality Innovative Development of the Intelligent Robot Industry (2023–2025) was issued, targeting the creation of a globally influential robotics innovation hub by 2025.
Zhang Hongtao, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, stated that humanoid robots are a priority pioneering industry for Shanghai to nurture. “Shanghai has gathered a large number of outstanding innovation and entrepreneurship players covering both large foundation models and their physical robot carriers. At the government level, we will further support their growth through industrial policies, open application scenarios and resource matchmaking, to foster new quality productive forces,” he said.
Shenzhen, home to robotics enterprises such as UBtech, Loong Robotics and Dobot, has built a full-fledged industrial system for humanoid robots. It leverages AI large models developed by Huawei and Tencent for high-level analysis and decision-making as the robot’s “brain”, alongside core components including vision sensors, tactile modules, torque sensors and LiDAR that serve as the “cerebellum” for precise motion control.
This March, Shenzhen released the Shenzhen Action Plan for Technological Innovation and Industrial Development of Embodied Intelligent Robots (2025–2027). Its 2027 targets include adding more than 10 enterprises valued at over RMB 10 billion and 20 firms with annual revenue exceeding RMB 1 billion, launching over 50 large-scale application scenarios each worth at least RMB 1 billion, growing related industrial output to above RMB 100 billion, and housing over 1,200 enterprises within the embodied intelligent robot industrial cluster.
Cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen have rolled out attractive policy packages: billion-yuan industrial development funds, low-cost factory and computing resources for startups, plus substantial fiscal and tax incentives.
Wu Wentao from the Marketing Department of Galaxy Universal Robotics Co., Ltd. commented that Beijing’s strong appeal attracts top talent from around the globe, whose expertise continuously fuels industrial progress. Close collaboration between local universities and research institutes delivers remarkable industry-university-research synergy, jointly driving in-depth advancement of the humanoid robot sector.
“Haidian District maintains constant communication with Galaxy Universal. Zhongguancun Science Park Administrative Committee takes the initiative to interpret newly released policies and support schemes for enterprises, offering assistance in talent recruitment, brand promotion and scenario matchmaking. We are truly grateful for all the support,” Wu Wentao said.
After its star appearance on the Spring Festival Gala, Unitree Robotics has become one of the most sought-after humanoid robot manufacturers. Ye Songsong, Section Chief of the Industrial Development Division of the Economic and Information Bureau of Hangzhou High-Tech Zone (Binjiang), explained that since Unitree settled in Binjiang in 2016, the district has provided tiered targeted support matching the enterprise’s growth stages, from student startup and gazelle enterprise to industrial chain leader. Meanwhile, the district purchased and renovated existing factory buildings to construct standard industrial workshops for Unitree’s production of quadruped and humanoid robots, satisfying its capacity expansion demands.
Shanghai delivers precise support across multiple key segments. Niu Tenghao, Founder of Cyan Innovation, noted that Shanghai’s computing power subsidies, downstream scenario pilot programs and data collection center construction policies have greatly boosted coordination along the industrial chain. A mature supply chain effectively cuts corporate production costs and strengthens product competitiveness.
Huang Jin, Technology Incubation Manager at Shanghai Caohejing Hi-Tech Park Development Corporation, which specializes in humanoid robot incubation, introduced that the incubator is positioned as a compact industrial cluster hub built on three closed-loop systems covering technology, finance and comprehensive support, forming a complete pipeline from laboratory R&D to mass industrialization. It currently hosts enterprises specializing in complete robot assembly, dexterous hand R&D, embodied AI brain systems and core components including motors, lead screws and reducers.
“We aim to build a robotics marketplace where entrepreneurs can access all required resources, shortening supply chain matching cycles,” Huang Jin explained.
Inside the National University Science and Technology Park of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology stands a sleek grey modern building with a metallic sheen in sunlight — headquarters of Shanghai Zhuoyide Robotics Co., Ltd.
The space resembles a futuristic workshop: precision bionic finger components scattered across workbenches, several humanoid robots resting beside charging piles in standby mode, and engineers busy conducting robot tests. A striking robot nicknamed “Red Cap” draws particular attention in the corner: an expressive humanoid robot under debugging, whose face is driven by nearly 30 micro-motors capable of replicating the subtlest human facial movements.
“Come and try talking to it!” Staff member Xiao Yang invited reporters to step closer to Red Cap. He stepped back two paces and suddenly grinned at the camera, and the robot’s silver-grey face instantly mirrored a perfectly calibrated smile. When Xiao Yang playfully raised his right eyebrow, bionic skin above the robot’s eye socket lifted, matching even the exact fluttering frequency of his eyebrow.
“This is our latest-generation multi-modal interactive system,” Xiao Yang demonstrated. “Cameras embedded in its eyes capture micro-facial expressions, while large models analyze emotional intentions in real time. It can even detect tiny tension in the muscles around your eyes when you force a smile.”
Driven by local policies, the humanoid robot industrial chain presents clear regional division and clustered development patterns.
Chen Ying, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Electronics Institute, pointed out that national-level specialized, sophisticated, unique and innovative “Little Giant” robotics enterprises and listed firms are mainly concentrated in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, forming core industrial clusters centered on Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Morgan Stanley’s global Top 100 listed humanoid robot enterprises ranking records 11 firms from the Pearl River Delta, 14 from the Yangtze River Delta and 3 from Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. Combined, these three regions account for nearly 80% of all Chinese companies on the list.
Breaking the industrial chain down into three core segments — robot mechanical ontology, AI brain and system integration — reveals distinct regional strengths. Most Yangtze River Delta enterprises focus on R&D and manufacturing of robot bodies. Within software and “brain” development (responsible for high-level decision-making and intelligent data processing), two out of China’s three representative firms on the global ranking are based in Beijing: Baidu and Horizon Robotics. Leveraging mature industrial supporting capacity and efficient integration capabilities, Pearl River Delta enterprises specialize in complete machine integration, claiming half of China’s ten top integration vendors.
This regional division and clustering align closely with each area’s inherent strengths.
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei: Beijing hosts world-class universities including Tsinghua and Peking University, attracting abundant high-end talent and holding a dominant edge in core underlying technologies such as large model algorithms.
Yangtze River Delta: Decades of accumulated advanced manufacturing infrastructure deliver mature precision processing and intelligent manufacturing capacity, providing solid support for humanoid robot mechanical body production.
Pearl River Delta: Built on well-established automotive and industrial robot industries that share overlapping supply chains with humanoid robots, the region boasts a complete supply chain covering component manufacturing to final assembly, generating remarkable scale effects and cost advantages.
“We have built a full-cycle system from procurement to manufacturing geared toward mass production, and pushed forward commercial deployment — none of this would be possible without China’s domestic industrial chains, especially clusters in the Yangtze River Delta,” said Yao Maoqing, Partner and President of the Embodied Business Division at Agibot Robotics. Shanghai and the broader Yangtze River Delta offer a full supply chain ecosystem; nearly all core hardware of Agibot’s robots are sourced domestically with an extremely high localization rate.
Thanks to mature supply chains and comprehensive industrial ecosystems, agglomeration effects have taken root across China’s upstream and downstream humanoid robot sectors. In Shenzhen, Guangdong, over 60% of robot manufacturers’ supply chain parts are sourced locally. Nanshan District alone hosts more than 200 enterprises and institutions covering every link of the humanoid robot industrial chain.