Shenzhen is turning the last hundred metres of campus delivery into a fully automated chain. Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen and SF Express have opened a smart parcel centre that links intelligent sorting, unmanned shuttles and door-to-door robot delivery, described as the country’s first full-chain smart campus logistics scenario.
A sorting robotic arm grabs each parcel, scans it and routes it to the right slot, no staff hand-sorting required. An unmanned shuttle then carries batches between sites across the campus. At the building, an indoor delivery robot takes over: it navigates and avoids obstacles on its own, interfaces with the elevator control system, calls the lift and crosses floors. On arrival it triggers a voice alert, so students and staff collect parcels at the door or in the room.
Since the trial began in September, the system has handled about 4,000 parcels a day, easing the pressure of semester-opening peaks. The robot already delivers across main and information buildings floor to floor, with dormitory upstairs delivery rolling out in phases, starting in off-peak windows and supporting booked downstairs delivery. The setup saves couriers about 30 per cent of round-trip shuttle and delivery time.
Campus buildings sit scattered, teaching blocks, labs and dorms interlaced. At class-change the parcel station jams, queues drag, and open shelves invite mis-picks and loss. Traditional delivery struggles to balance speed, safety and experience, which is exactly why the last hundred metres has stayed unsolved. Here, sorting, shuttle and building delivery run as one coordinated system with the whole flow tracked.
The centre is also a logistics lab on campus. HIT Shenzhen brings deep research in AI, robotics and smart manufacturing, giving firms real scenarios, engineering and industry resources. At the launch, both sides said they would use the campus parcel scene as a real proving ground where lab technology is tested, refined and deployed.
The launch rides Shenzhen’s push for a city-plus-AI application ecosystem. As a national pilot zone, Shenzhen has opened five batches of nearly 300 city-plus-AI scenarios across government, manufacturing, health, transport and sanitation. In 2025 the city’s core AI industry revenue reached 220 billion yuan, with more than 2,600 scale AI firms, a distinctly application-driven profile. The newly issued 2026 to 2028 action plan names transport and logistics as a priority, expanding unmanned logistics vehicles and drones for last-mile delivery in communities, commercial districts and campuses.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original Shenzhen Economic Daily report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://sztqb.sznews.com/PC/content/202610/20/content_3485395.html.