At the World Robot Conference 2026 (hereinafter referred to as "the Conference"), users can remotely control the "Sun Wukong" humanoid robot from Zhejiang's Humanoid Robot Pilot Platform (hereinafter referred to as "Zhejiang Pilot Platform") via a remote controller and smart screen to perform simulated tasks such as operating industrial switches, opening doors in hazardous environments, and transferring suspicious items. Capabilities including testing and validation, AI computing, pilot production, and scenario verification underpin product prototyping and final design.
Industry experts note that robotics is a cross-disciplinary sector. Breaking down barriers between components, complete machines, system integration, pilot platforms, end-user scenarios, and capital will enable the industry to achieve symbiotic growth and accelerate its path to production lines more effectively.
Chain Leader Driven: Building an Industrial Innovation Consortium
A staff member remotely operates the "Great Sage" humanoid robot. Photo by Huang Sheng, People's Daily Online
During the conference, under the guidance of SASAC and led by China North Industries Group (Norinco), a Central State-Owned Enterprise Robot Innovation Consortium was established with over 100 participating organizations, including other central SOEs, universities, research institutes, private enterprises, and industry associations.
Taking the Ordnance Industry Group as an example, its "Tianlang" series of quadruped robots underwent systematic optimization at the Zhejiang pilot platform focused on assembly precision, production efficiency, and quality management systems. This effort advanced the prototypes from development to mature, mass-producible, and replicable products, now deployed in scenarios such as power grid inspection, emergency reconnaissance, and园区 patrol for ecosystem partners.
Not only central state-owned enterprises but also leading companies are building a collaborative ecosystem with robotics firms, covering the full value chain from R&D to scaled deployment.
A Baidu Smart Cloud executive told reporters that the Baihe AI computing platform, through secondary integration, enables Digua Robot to provide developers with a stable and reliable service platform. Additionally, Baidu Smart Cloud offers end-to-end speech-language large model solutions, while Digua Robot provides high-performance computing chips (Sunrise X5). Together, they are building a new paradigm for human-machine interaction.
Collaborate to co-develop solutions
Audiences are fascinated by the "Robot Kindergarten." Photo by Huang Sheng, People's Daily Online.
"Look at that—robots are so adorable." At the Tashan Tech booth, onlookers gathered to watch the "Robot Kindergarten," snapping photos with their phones.
Fu Yihui, Vice President of Marketing and Ecosystem at Tashan Technology, stated that the "Robot Kindergarten" is open for co-building with complete robot manufacturers, algorithm companies, and research institutions. Leveraging Tashan's tactile perception hardware foundation, it establishes a systematic industry-academia-research collaboration mechanism to enable continuous interaction and autonomous learning. This approach supports end-to-end "one-stop" application innovation, driving the joint development of industry-specific solutions.
An exhibitor stated that industry-application collaboration means bringing end users forward to deeply participate in technical breakthroughs, defining products based on real-world needs.
At the conference, BrainCo's dexterous operation data collection matrix explored data acquisition for scenarios including electronics manufacturing, apparel, healthcare, and personal care. By integrating real-world execution, human demonstration, and simulated generation, it established a tight feedback loop between industry needs and R&D production, accelerating product deployment into real environments for validation.
Collaborate across finance and industry to accelerate large-scale adoption.
Audience interacts with humanoid robots. Photo by Huang Sheng, People's Daily Online.
"Move over, let's add another chair."
At the WRC2 026 Embodied AI Innovation Link event held on 8/21, numerous entrepreneurs filled the conference room. Their shared goal: find key answers for scaling robot deployment through industry collaboration, investment insights, and real-world business scenarios.
Zheng Xuanle, Founder and CEO of Lightstone Capital, stated that embodied intelligence financing now spans the entire industry chain—from brain to body to deployment applications. Capital is shifting from the body toward the brain, computing control, data, and key components. The industry is evolving from point-wise optimization to system-wide optimization and maximization of value across the supply chain, with initial division of labor emerging.
In this shifting industrial landscape, fostering a virtuous cycle among technology, industry, and finance can accelerate the growth of robotics companies.
Zhangyu Dynamics CEO Du Dalong stated that enterprises at different development stages have varying levels of technological maturity and industrial implementation capabilities, leading to significant differences in the types of capital they can access and the strategies for acquiring it. For entrepreneurs, equity funds, government special programs, bank sci-tech finance, and strategic industry investments are not mutually exclusive choices. Equity capital absorbs high-risk R&D expenditures, debt financing supplements operating cash flow, and industry capital fills gaps in the supply chain, collectively forming a risk-layered capital supply system.