IN an automotive factory, silver humanoid robots stride along assembly lines, performing tasks previously done by humans — from product quality inspection to affixing labels onto vehicles. Such is a common scene in the electric carmaker NIO’s smart factory, where UBTech robots have become regular employees.

As competition intensifies among manufacturers, humanoid robots are increasingly being integrated into various scenarios, with industrial applications leading the charge. Earlier this month, UBTech Robotics announced it would work with FAW-Volkswagen, one of China’s earliest joint venture automakers, to develop an unmanned car factory. This initiative aims to deploy UBTech’s industrial humanoid robot, Walker S, at FAW-Volkswagen’s plant in Qingdao, Shandong Province, where the robot will undertake tasks such as bolt tightening, component assembly, and handling automotive parts.

Experts consider industrial manufacturing, commercial services, and family companionship as the primary application scenarios for humanoid robots. At the Innovation Conference 2024 held in Shenzhen over the weekend, UBTech’s vice president Pang Jianxin said humanoid robots were increasingly penetrating critical manufacturing sectors, including automobiles, computers, telecom, and consumer electronics.

“The standardized nature of industrial manufacturing makes it an ideal arena for humanoid robots to demonstrate their prowess,” Pang said. On the other hand, integration into industrial manufacturing will help humanoid robots quickly improve their task execution capabilities, Pang added.

China aims to establish an innovative ecology for humanoid robots by 2025, according to a guideline from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. By 2027, the country aims to have a secure and reliable industrial supply chain, with related products being integrated into every aspect of the economy.

PaXini Technology, with its headquarters in Shenzhen’s Bao’an District, develops robots with tactile sensing abilities that can perform high-accuracy tasks. Their products can be used in intelligent manufacturing, medical and healthcare, and commercial service scenarios, according to Nie Xiangru, co-founder of the company.

Seeing the huge potential of humanoid robots, investors have rushed to throw their money into this emerging industry.

LimX Dynamics, a Nanshan-based developer of full-size humanoid robots as well as four-wheeled and bipedal robots, has completed its latest fundraising round led by China Merchants Venture Capital and auto manufacturer SAIC Motor’s private equity investment platform Shang Qi Capital, yicai.com reported Monday.

Other participants in the Series A round included existing shareholders, the Frees Fund, VitalBridge, and the Future Capital Discovery Fund. The A series eyed investors in the industry from the outset as application scenarios are best suited to these companies’ time, funds, and technologies, said co-founder Zhang Wei.

In the AI era, firms that make general-purpose and humanoid robots need to understand how they can be applied.

The startup was initially founded by Zhang in 2022, who has a Ph.D. in electrical and computing engineering from Purdue University in the U.S. and is now a tenured professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen.

The robots manufactured by LimX, able to run continuously with synchronized arm movements, can be used in a wide range of areas such as smart manufacturing, industrial inspections, logistics and distribution, household services, and many other business-to-business or business-to-customer scenarios.

Almost every month this year there has been news of humanoid robot startups raising more money, a lot of which comes from China’s internet giants. In addition to Alibaba’s investment in LimX, Tencent Holdings has bought into UBTech, the first humanoid robot stock to go public in Hong Kong, Baidu has invested in Shanghai-based Zhiyuan Robotics, and Meituan in Shenzhen-based Galaxy General Robot and Hangzhou-based Unitree.

Xiong Rong, a professor at Zhejiang University, said that humanoid robots were designed in the human form to maximize versatility and facilitate seamless integration into social environments.

According to a report released at the First Chinese Humanoid Robot Industry Conference in April, China’s market scale of the humanoid robot industry is projected to reach 2.76 billion yuan (US$387 million) in 2024 and 75 billion yuan by 2029.

Nevertheless, industry insiders at the conference held over the weekend cautioned that the ubiquitous humanoid robot use is still a vision far from reality, particularly in complex household and commercial settings where human-robot interactions require flexibility and adaptability.

Pang said that future research will focus on high-performance motors, sensors, and other core components that may further empower these robots.

(SD-Xinhua)