No more showboating. At the ninth World Artificial Intelligence Conference, which opened in Shanghai on 17 July, humanoid robots stopped performing and started working. Past shows leaned on backflips and boxing; this year robots served as both product and staff, guiding visitors and minding unmanned retail points, the first time full-size humanoids were deployed at … Read more
On 28 July, BYD confirmed to media that its humanoid robot product will officially debut and “go on duty” in August, signalling a move from a pure carmaker toward an ecosystem technology group. The same day, the 2026 Fortune Global 500 listed 35 vehicle and parts firms; BYD replaced Tesla as the electric-vehicle sales champion … Read more
A year ago China’s dexterous-hand sector was a demo-dominated infancy. Capital interest was thin, most makers were still validating concepts, and industry shipments sat at the hundred-to-thousand-unit level, with products suited to trade-show displays rather than stable industrial use or full humanoid integration. In a single year the picture flipped. Hot money rushed in, new … Read more
Tactile sensing is becoming a foundational capability for the next generation of embodied intelligence. For two years the robotics industry poured resources into bodies, large models, dexterous hands and vision. As those capabilities advanced quickly, the bottleneck narrowed to the contact layer: a robot must not only locate an object, but feel force, friction, slip … Read more
Doubao, ByteDance’s AI assistant, has started charging a commission. The same hotel room on the same settlement system costs an 8 per cent platform fee from the Douyin feed but 12 per cent when the order jumps from the Doubao chat box. The four-percentage-point gap has a single variable: the traffic came from an AI … Read more
On 12 August, Tianjin’s industry, development and science bureaus issued the Tianjin Smart Robot Industry Innovation and Development Action Plan for 2026 to 2028. By the end of 2028 the city targets core output above 20 billion yuan, average annual growth beyond 15 per cent and a Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional supply rate above 60 per cent. … Read more
Shenzhen News reported on 12 August that Ruqi’s Robotaxi fleet capacity has been connected to Tencent’s Travel Service WeChat mini-program. In zones including Guangzhou’s Nansha and Science City, users can now hail a Ruqi Robotaxi through the Tencent entry point. Ruqi Robotaxi is now bookable inside Tencent’s Travel Service mini-program (Source: Shenzhen News) Inside a … Read more
LeiPhone has learned that Liu Liyuan, a former core product lead at DJI and Anker, has started a venture in pet-companion robots and closed an angel round led by Yuanhe. The move takes a seasoned Shenzhen hardware operator into one of consumer robotics’ most emotionally sticky niches. A pet-companion robot, the new bet from ex-DJI … Read more
The first half of 2026 reshuffled the humanoid rankings. AgiBot shipped more than Unitree for the first time, taking the global lead. According to a 9 August report from Smart Analytics Global, a California research firm, global humanoid shipments reached about 19,100 units in the first half, nearly triple the 5,100 a year earlier. Full-year … Read more
Before Unitree had even started trading, the market had already priced its IPO at about 61 billion yuan. With 2025 revenue near 1.699 billion yuan and net profit around 278 million yuan, that implies a static price-to-earnings multiple of roughly 219 times. The natural first reaction: why would a maker of robot dogs and humanoids … Read more