China's fast-developing humanoid robots are taking big steps towards more real-world application scenarios amid a continuous series of technological breakthroughs and the help of a comprehensive industrial chain.
In a scene that may once have belonged in a science-fiction movie, local people in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen were recently left amazed as a humanoid 'police robot' patrolled the streets of the city alongside other police officers.
Complete with a full police outfit, this real-life 'robocop' marks a significant step forward in the technology, with many onlookers taken aback by its appearance and ease of movement as it strutted its stuff on the streets.
"The robot is really human-like, with such natural movements," said Ye Junhua, a tourist who marveled at the unexpected sight.
Another similar model has already entered large-scale production, with 100 units sold for industrial use, highlighting how business operators see significant potential in their adoption.
A growing number of Chinese consumers and companies are now anticipating more widespread applications of these humanoid robots, and many envision them playing important roles in the future.
"We'd like to use humanoid robots to replace manpower in certain cybersecurity operation jobs, mainly those tedious tasks that require someone to be on duty 24-7," said Xiao Jianwei, vice president of the Shenzhen Anluo Technology firm.
Shenzhen's unique ecosystem as a major technology hub which boasts a number of top hardware and software companies in the vicinity makes it the perfect testing ground for these cutting-edge robots.
As the industry continues to expand, the robotics sector is now forming a more complete industrial chain across Shenzhen, where the localization rate of robot manufacturer suppliers has exceeded 60 percent.
Shenzhen's Nanshan District -- an area known as a focal point for many of the city's high-tech industries -- is already home to over 200 humanoid robot-related enterprises.
"We have a quite complete industrial chain. For now, the humanoid robot industry chain of Nanshan District has surpassed 40 billion yuan (over 5.5 billion U.S. dollars). The year 2024 saw a year-on-year increase of over 20 percent," said Zhang Simin, deputy director of a key industrial department with Nanshan District's Industry and Information Technology Bureau.
Many insiders believe the efficient collaboration of local supply chains can form a 'co-construction' effect which will span across the entire sector, lowering costs and helping speed up development.
Meanwhile, with a raft of supportive policies being promoted and a wave of new scenarios being mooted, the large-scale application of humanoid robots seems set to become the norm.
"Over 90 percent of the components in our latest humanoid robot are domestically-produced. No matter if from the cell phone manufacturing industry, the automobile industry or the industrial robot manufacturing sector, a very solid foundation has been formed in these industrial chains across the Greater Bay Area. All this has helped facilitate the explosive growth of the humanoid robotic sector," said Leng Xiaokun, president of Leju Robot, another leading robotics firm based in Shenzhen.
Humanoid robots ready for more real-world applications as sci-fi set to become reality
