Why most humanoid robots are still factory interns, not full-time workers

Unitree’s listing lifted attention on the robot industry, and 2026 is widely called the year of humanoid mass production. Yet behind the conference glow, most industrial robots are still ‘interns’ on the floor, not reliable ‘full staff’. Deployment sits at single-point tests and showcase pilots, moving boxes, loading parts, and simple patrols, while full-line replacement … Read more

Ninebot’s Navimow mower: 2.54 billion yuan in half-year sales, over 40 per cent of China’s mower exports go to Europe

On 10 August, Ninebot released its first-half 2026 results: group revenue of 14.36 billion yuan, up 22 per cent, with net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.008 billion yuan, down 18.79 per cent, and ex-non-recurring profit of 969 million yuan, down 26 per cent. By segment, e-scooters in China sold 2.842 million units, up 19 … Read more

Schaeffler debuts humanoid-robot components at WRC 2026, eyes series production

At the 2026 World Robot Conference, Schaeffler Embodied Intelligence Robotics (Taicang) showed up for the first time, centring its display on the core parts and subsystems that make a humanoid move. Schaeffler is leaning on decades of automotive and industrial drive know-how. The lineup spans robot high-performance computers, a 48V low-voltage power controller (LVPC), tendon-driven … Read more

Shenzhen’s AI2Robots puts AlphaBot 2 to work at WRC 2026, not just on stage

At the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing, Shenzhen’s AI2Robots brought AlphaBot 2 (Aibao), powered by its newest brain-like embodied model, to make one point: the robot should not just mount the stage, it should clock in for work. On the stand, Aibao makes coffee, ice cream, and cocktails as a genuine on-duty ‘all-round clerk’, … Read more

Guangdong’s ‘Ten Steeds’: how Shenzhen’s supply chain spawned a humanoid-robot cluster

China now fields more than 400 whole-body humanoid models, over half the global total. In the first half of 2026 alone, 116,000 new companies registered in the humanoid space, up 9.5 per cent year on year. Nowhere is the momentum sharper than in Guangdong, where ten technically distinct humanoid makers have converged into what local … Read more

Huawei’s Ren Zhengfei names cheap power and dense telecom as China’s two AI edges

On 20 August in Shenzhen, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei sat down with Wen Shugang, chairman of China Huaneng Group, and Zhong Guodong, the state power giant’s general manager. The meeting was framed around national strategy and the front edge of industry, but Ren used it to make a sharper point about where China’s … Read more