- More than 200 teams compete in embodied robotics event tied to enterprise use cases
- Investors and certification bodies converge as Zhejiang pushes for robotics leadership
More than 200 robotics teams from China and overseas gathered in Hangzhou on May 15 for what organizers said was the country’s largest embodied robotics competition to date.
This event comes as local governments and companies increasingly shift attention from flashy demonstrations toward practical industrial deployment.
The 2026 Hangzhou International Embodied Robot Scenario Application Competition opened in Yunqi Town in the city’s Xihu District, drawing participants ranging from established robotics firms to university labs and startup teams.
About one-third of competitors came from established companies such as Unitree (宇树科技) and DEEP Robotics (云深处科技), while another third consisted of cross-industry entrants and startups.
The remaining teams represented universities and research institutes including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Contenders from countries including Switzerland, Russia and India also participated.
Unlike many robotics competitions that emphasize spectacle or athletic performance, all contest tasks in Hangzhou were designed around solving operational problems provided by companies including tech giant Ant Group, propery developer Greentown China and energy provider State Grid Corporation of China.
The competition includes four professional testing categories based on China’s CR robot certification system, evaluating capabilities such as voice interaction, navigation and obstacle avoidance, motion control and upper-limb dexterity.
Some categories explicitly prohibit remote controls, requiring robots to rely entirely on autonomous perception and decision-making.
Greentown Service Group, the property management arm of Greentown, participated as a real-world scenario provider, with challenges in cleaning, security and delivery shaping competition tasks.
For its part, telecom operator China Mobile also joined the competition, reflecting expectations that future robots will rely on 5G and eventually 6G networks to connect with cloud-based AI systems for generalized task execution.
The event also highlights Zhejiang’s broader ambitions to become a center for robotics testing and certification.
Last year, Hangzhou’s Xihu District and the National Robot Test and Assessment Center jointly established a Zhejiang testing center, allowing companies to complete testing and certification locally and cut evaluation cycles by more than half.
Live exercise
Organizers said the competition represent a live exercise in building standards and certification capabilities for China’s emerging robotics sector.
More than 10 investment institutions, including Xihu Sci-Tech Venture Capital and Hengxu Capital, attended the event with industrial funds totaling over 1 billion yuan ($147 million).
Winning teams may receive financing support spanning angel investment to growth-stage funding, while also being recommended for procurement partnerships with large corporations.
“The ultimate value of robotics technology lies not in showing off technical feats, but in serving humanity,” said Li Yongwei, chief engineer at Zhejiang’s Department of Economy and Information Technology.
