Following the successful hosting of the world’s first humanoid robot half-marathon in Beijing, an unprecedented humanoid robot sports event has again focused global attention on China. From April 24 to 26, the inaugural Embodied Intelligent Robot Sports Games took place in Wuxi, featuring over 150 robots from 100 research teams, renowned enterprises, and universities. The event showcased memorable moments including robot oath-taking ceremonies, 2v2 robot football matches, combat robot duels, and AI chess robots competing against human teams.
This robotic “martial arts gathering” generated massive visibility for Wuxi while unlocking new frontiers for industrial innovation in this historic commercial city. Standing at the starting line of the humanoid robot industry race, Wuxi has set a pivotal goal: to cluster 200 embodied intelligent robot enterprises within three years, develop over 300 industry-specific application scenarios, and establish a 300 billion yuan industrial base for embodied intelligent robotics.
1. Accelerated Innovation: Collaborative Breakthroughs in Core Technologies
At the sports games, multiple Wuxi-developed embodied intelligent robots demonstrated breakthrough capabilities. “Iron Block,” China’s first humanoid shooting robot, outperformed human challengers with precise basketball throws. Calligraphy robot “Little Crab” manipulated brushes with mechanical arm precision, while the world’s first “muscle-exoskeleton robot” enabled mobility-impaired users to regain independent walking ability.
Statistical data reveals Wuxi’s technological leadership in the robot industry. Between 2015 and 2024, the city filed 572 humanoid robot patent applications with a 57% invention patent authorization rate – the highest in Jiangsu Province. Wuxi has achieved critical breakthroughs in core components including servo systems, joint modules, sensors, and millimeter-wave radar, establishing a foundation for specialized products.
Servo motor development exemplifies this progress. The championship-winning humanoid robot “Tiāngōng” from the robot half-marathon uses servo joints supplied by Wuxi-based E-You Technology. “We focus on perfecting integrated joint performance while reducing costs to enable mass adoption of intelligent robots,” stated Sun Zeju, founder of Jiangsu E-You Robot Technology Co., Ltd. Their ProServo series micro-servo joints have reached internationally leading technical standards.
Cross-regional collaboration further strengthens the robot industry’s innovation ecosystem. The Wuxi-Shanghai-Hong Kong Robot Dexterous Intelligence Research Institute, established last year, now employs over 100 researchers who have filed more than 50 invention patents focused on developing control systems for humanoid robot movement. Leveraging research institutions like HUST Wuxi Research Institute and NUAA Wuxi Research Institute, Huishan District has incubated numerous robotics enterprises. During the games, Huishan and Xishan districts formed strategic partnerships with the National-Local Humanoid Robot Innovation Center to co-develop application demonstration bases and training facilities.
2. Industrial Elevation: Supply Chain Integration Fuels Growth
The embodied intelligent robot industry shares significant synergies with automotive manufacturing, positioning Wuxi’s 200 billion yuan automotive cluster as an ideal transition platform for robot industry development. Local enterprises are strategically entering this trillion-yuan emerging market.
Manufacturing veteran Tianqi Automation Engineering Co., Ltd. has prioritized humanoid robotics as its strategic direction. “We established a humanoid robotics division and created an embodied intelligent robot data training base,” explained Guo Dahong, Deputy General Manager of Tianqi’s Humanoid Robotics Division. Their joint venture with UBTECH – Wuxi Youqi Robot Technology Co., Ltd. – was designated as a chain leader enterprise in Wuxi’s humanoid robot industry cluster, having already delivered application solutions to over 20 clients.
Supply chain integration is rapidly advancing across the robot industry. Auto parts specialist Wuxi Best established Yuhua Precision Machinery to develop core linear actuator components like ball screws. Wuxi automotive leaders Huaguang and Wandi Power jointly founded Weihan Intelligence, focusing on harmonic reducer R&D. These developments have catalyzed the formation of a “Humanoid Robot Core Components Industry Alliance,” enabling collaborative research, manufacturing, and market development among local enterprises.
Wuxi’s robot industry expansion follows a “cluster + specialized park” model, creating differentiated zones for pilot production, manufacturing, and R&D. The Wuxi (Huishan) Humanoid Robot Industrial Park, accelerating construction with Phase I and II scheduled for operation by year-end, adopts an “investment-construction-operation” integration approach to attract upstream and downstream resources. Six industrial projects including exoskeleton robots and pipeline maintenance robots signed agreements to enter the park during the games.
3. Application Expansion: Diverse Scenarios Drive Adoption
While robots demonstrated capabilities during the sports games, generating behavioral data to refine algorithms, real-world implementations are accelerating across industries. In October 2023, Wuxi Youqi Robot Technology’s fully unmanned logistics solution entered trial operation at BYD’s Changsha industrial park, achieving the first humanoid robot-unmanned vehicle collaborative operation. In early 2024, UBTECH will deploy 20 industrial humanoid robots (Walker S1) at Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor’s manufacturing facilities – marking the world’s first batch deployment of humanoid robots in automotive production.
Designated as a key future industry in Wuxi’s 2024 development strategy, humanoid robots are expanding from complex industrial environments to high-frequency social applications. At Changning Community Service Center, China’s first elderly-care robot “Big Head A-Liang” converses with seniors. “Combining elderly care with AI applications offers limitless potential,” said Cheng Long, General Manager of Jiangsu Aiyu Wencheng Elderly-Care Robot Co., Ltd., noting that orders have flooded in since its Shanghai debut.
A wave of robotic applications is transforming Wuxi’s social landscape, with embodied intelligent robots serving as factory technicians, security patrols, educational assistants, baristas, and even entertainment companions – injecting new dynamism into socioeconomic development. During the games, experts including Academician Ding Han of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Foreign Academician Zhang Jianwei of the Chinese Academy of Engineering emphasized humanoid robots’ vast exploration space and development potential across multiple domains.
The event concluded with seven procurement agreements covering battery factory applications and educational robotics, alongside Wuxi’s release of demand lists for nearly 300 robots. From industrial manufacturing to public security, education, and elderly care, the application horizons for humanoid robots continue to broaden across the robot industry landscape.