- New facility offers more than 30 real-world training environments for humanoid and service robots
- Hangzhou is expanding efforts to turn embodied AI from lab research into commercial applications
A new national testing base for embodied AI robots opened in Hangzhou on May 16, as China steps up efforts to move humanoid robotics from research labs into real-world commercial deployment.
The National Pilot Base for Embodied Intelligence Applications was launched in Zhejiang province as what officials described as a “national-level vocational training ground” for embodied AI systems.
The facility is designed to help robots adapt to practical working environments before large-scale commercialization.
Operated by Hangzhou Embodied Intelligence Pilot Base Technology Co., Ltd, the site has already built more than 30 application-oriented training scenarios.
These cover areas including restaurant services, unmanned retail stores, live events, power inspection, fruit picking and underground operations. More than 130 robot systems are currently operating across the facility.
Inside the exhibition area, robot baristas prepare and deliver coffee orders while other machines carry out inspection, retail and harvesting tasks simultaneously. The center combines commercial demonstrations with data collection, skill training and R&D collaboration functions.
China’s robotics industry currently shows what officials describe as “point-to-point advantages,” meaning different companies specialize in areas such as motion control or robotic manipulators, but lack unified industrial coordination.
Li Xingteng, deputy general manager of operating company, said the base aims to connect robotics firms and suppliers nationwide to transform those isolated technical strengths into a broader industrial ecosystem.
“We hope to build a platform linking robot companies and upstream and downstream enterprises across China,” Li was quoted as saying in local media reports.
Full-stack ecosystem
The facility plans to provide shared computing resources, open datasets, model services and scenario testing infrastructure, creating what it calls a full-stack ecosystem spanning chips, computing power, robot bodies, AI models and application development.
Hangzhou has been at the forefront of pushing embodied AI into real-world use cases.
The Yangtzeer reported in March that the city had opened an embodied AI exhibition and application promotion center in the city’s Binjiang district.
The 8,813-square-meter facility hosts 136 robots from 87 companies across 33 application scenarios, including power inspection, underground operations, logistics handling, restaurant services and elderly care.
