- The three-day event will feature 60 competitions testing robots in real-world environments, from underwater operations to precision manipulation
- Organizers aim to connect promising projects with pilot testing, industrial customers and investors
Hangzhou will host the finals of the inaugural Global Embodied Intelligence Application Innovation Challenge and the 2026 China Robotics Competition from October 16 to 18.
This competition is expected to bring nearly 5,000 competitors from 2,000 teams to the White Horse Lake International Convention and Exhibition Center in the city’s Binjiang District.
The event will feature 22 tracks, 60 competition categories and three separate contests organized by companies. Teams will test robots across real-world scenarios spanning underwater, ground, aerial and space environments.
Beyond pre-programmed moves
Unlike conventional robotics competitions, the embodied AI contests focus on how machines perceive their surroundings, interpret tasks, respond to changing conditions and carry out actions in real environments.
The aim is to test the full loop of perception, understanding, decision-making, execution and feedback, rather than a sequence of preset movements.
The 17 new embodied AI events test a range of capabilities, from recognizing and grasping objects in flexible sorting tasks to coordinating drones with ground vehicles.
Other challenges include robotic badminton, which demands fast visual tracking and trajectory prediction, and dexterous manipulation, which tests fine motor control and hand-eye coordination.
Teams from prestigious universities including Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University will compete.
From competition to industry
The organizers — the Chinese Association of Automation and the National Pilot Base for Embodied Intelligence Applications — aim to build a pipeline that identifies promising projects through competitions, validates their technologies through pilot testing and connects successful teams with industrial partners.
During and after the event, the pilot base plans to track standout projects, arrange expert assessments and connect teams with companies and real-world application scenarios. Projects that meet the requirements will be considered for further pilot testing.
The event will also include recruitment sessions linking companies with student interns and graduates, as well as visits and exchanges involving investment institutions.
Linking contests with standards
The competition will coincide with the third 2026 meeting of the International Telecommunication Union’s ITU-T Focus Group on Embodied Intelligence, scheduled for October 13 to 16 in Binjiang.
Established in February, the group will hold its first meeting outside its Geneva headquarters. Nearly 400 experts from 43 countries are expected to attend, with two technical specifications slated for approval, according to the organizer.
On the afternoon of October 16, international delegates will visit the competition finals to observe developments in China’s embodied AI industry.
The combination of live robot trials and standards discussions is intended to bring technical requirements closer to practical deployment — while giving promising projects a route from competition floors to industrial testing and adoption.
Header image generated by Tencent’s Yuanbao AI
