Held in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Eastern China Until April 26
"An Opportunity to Demonstrate Industrial Confidence"
More than 100 companies participated in China's first embodied intelligence (artificial intelligence with a physical body that interacts with the real environment) robot competition.
According to Chinese media outlets such as the Global Times on April 24, the "2025 World Robot Conference - 1st Embodied Intelligence Robot Competition," hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics, is being held in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, eastern China, from the previous day until April 26.
The competition features events similar to a robot Olympics, including short-distance running (sprint), cross-country, soccer, basketball, and dance. There are also application-based contests such as material handling, intelligent capture, and indoor structure operations.
On April 25, robots from Unitree, Leju, and UBTECH, which are leading the Chinese robotics industry, will compete on the same stage. DirectedDrive, a company based in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, that manufactures wheeled robots, will participate in an off-road race featuring grass, puddles, gravel roads, and slopes. According to Chinese media, more than 100 robot companies are participating in a total of eight events in this manner.
Tian Peng, an AI expert formerly with Chinese AI company SenseTime, commented that this competition "brings robot contests out of the laboratory and into the arena, serving as an opportunity to demonstrate not only the latest advances in embodied intelligence technology but also industrial confidence." He added that "it will attract more attention and investment from capital holders, accelerating large-scale development of the industry."
This year’s World Robot Conference is expected to hold regional qualifiers in over 200 cities and more than 100 provincial-level regions worldwide, as well as over 30 world championships, national championships, and finals in China. According to Chinese media, the annual number of participants is expected to exceed 250,000.
At the annual "Two Sessions" (Lianghui), China’s largest political event held last month, China officially designated "embodied intelligence" as a key area for development for the first time, along with 6th generation mobile communications (6G), humanoid robots, and AI smartphones and PCs.
Regarding these developments, some analysts note that China is putting even greater emphasis on "advanced industry rise" as it faces demands to upgrade its economic structure amid an intensifying trade war with the United States and ongoing economic stagnation.
Previously, on April 19, China also hosted the world’s first half-marathon event featuring humanoid robots in Beijing.
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