Author: leewper

What if a robot could cry with you? Not a scripted trick, but something closer to the real thing: eyes welling up, a tear slowly marking its face. That’s what Ningbo-based Yanxi Technology showed on April 29, at the company’s official launch event. The robot, called Xirui (model Yansyn-X2), is billed as the world’s first interactive emotional robot capable of actual crying. It wasn’t presented as a stunt. Behind it is a push to move affective computing and embodied intelligence from the lab into something you could one day have at home. The broader idea is simple enough. A machine…

TOKYO — On May 6, 2026, Tokyo’s Haneda Airport took on a batch of new workers that look nothing like the usual ground crew. The arrivals were humanoid robots made by Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics. For the next two years, they will be deployed to push baggage containers, move cargo and handle basic ramp tasks at one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs. At first glance the deal looks like a straightforward commercial pilot. In reality, it captures how China’s robotics industry is moving beyond lab demos and rewriting long-held assumptions about who leads in automation. Why a robotics powerhouse looked…

In the spring of 2026, a humanoid robot half‑marathon in Beijing’s E-Town may go down as a landmark moment in the history of China’s robotics industry. Honor’s robot “Lightning” crossed the finish line first in 50 minutes and 26 seconds — not only breaking the human men’s half‑marathon world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds, but also slashing the previous year’s winning time by nearly two hours. Off the track, another piece of news was equally eye‑catching: the first domestic humanoid robot production line with an annual capacity of 10,000 units — jointly built by Leju Robots and Dongfang…

Last April, a humanoid robot ran a marathon alongside humans for the first time. This April, a robot crossed the finish line faster than any human runner. But the applause came with a familiar question: what exactly is the point of a sprinting robot if it still can’t do a real job? This time, Chinese robotics firms are offering a more pragmatic answer: If you want to work, go get an internship first. Agibot recently announced that its new A3 humanoid robot will be deployed at tourist sites through its “BotShare” platform. XSquare Robot, meanwhile, has teamed up with the…

Global Competitive Landscape: Four Paths, Four Logics From 2026 onward, the global race in humanoid robots is no longer a single‑dimension sprint of “who runs faster or jumps higher.” Instead, it is a simultaneous game of four distinct technological routes and industrial logics. Different countries have chosen different breakthrough paths based on their endowments: Japan solidifies its technological moat in precision components, the United States shifts from “showmanship” to “real‑world deployment,” China seizes the market with diverse scenarios and tiered pricing, and Europe seeks influence through standards and compliance. According to the latest research from TrendForce, China, Japan, the US,…

Note: All monetary amounts in this article are expressed in Chinese Yuan (CN¥). Today, let’s talk about Inovance. Inovance is a tech company that does R&D, production, and sales of industrial automation gear, mainly for medium-to-high-end equipment makers. Their product lineup includes low-voltage drives (inverters), integrated and specialized drives, servo systems, and PLCs. They’re one of the top domestic players in the low-voltage drive market, and in many niche segments, their integrated and specialized products are either industry-first or market leaders. Inovance’s main business lines I. General Automation (market leader, #1 position) This is the company’s real bread and butter…

By 2026, three things separate smart factories from the rest: machines, systems and processes that talk to each other through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT); data that works as hard as any physical asset, refined by advanced analytics and AI; and production lines that increasingly run themselves. This isn’t a distant vision. It’s already taking shape on factory floors from Germany to Guangdong. What “smart” actually means now The shift from digitalization to intelligence isn’t just a buzzword upgrade. At its core, it’s about manufacturers wiring up their operations with sensors and connected devices, pulling in streams of real-time…

Beijing, April 24 – As Auto China 2026 opened its doors on Thursday, Chery’s robotics unit AiMOGA drew a steady stream of visitors with a lineup that included its intelligent policing robot, the humanoid robot MORNINE, and the quadruped robot Argos. The common thread running through the display wasn’t just the hardware — it was the idea that robots and cars should share more than a parking lot. They should share core technologies, too. The Chery booth attracted more than 4,000 international guests on the first day alone. Around 2,500 of them have already made plans to travel to Wuhu,…

GUANGZHOU, China — At the 139th Canton Fair, a moment of raw emotion upstaged even the most advanced hardware on display. An Argentine woman, long confined to a wheelchair by a muscle-wasting disease, slowly rose to her feet and took her first steps in years — supported by a powered exoskeleton developed by a Chinese startup. Her family wept. The crowd that had gathered around the booth broke into spontaneous applause. Within days, a short video of the scene had ricocheted across social media platforms both inside and outside China, drawing millions of views and an outpouring of empathy. There…

For the past two years, China’s embodied intelligence sector has been riding a wave of easy money, vaulting valuations, and breathless founder narratives. Every startup had its own story about why it was ahead, and capital was happy to buy in — until a half-marathon in a Beijing suburb forced everyone to run on the same track. The Yizhuang Humanoid Robot Half Marathon wasn’t just a novelty. It was a revelation, and a deeply uncomfortable one for the industry’s homegrown stars. If the race proved anything, it’s this: capital may give you time. Big Tech will not. And for China’s…