Humanoid robots on display at the ongoing 2025 World Robot Conference are showing greater dexterity and intelligence, and are tending to become increasingly affordable.
Opened on Friday in Beijing, the 2025 World Robot Conference has brought together more than 200 robotics companies from around the world to present their latest innovations, including more than 50 companies displaying hundreds of humanoid robots, many equipped with advanced hands capable of mimicking human gestures, grasping objects, and even performing massages. These breakthroughs mark a shift from conception to practical deployment of humanoid robots.
"These actions weren't possible with traditional grippers. Now, with these abilities, robots can help with biological experiments or enter industrial production in a real sense as they can tighten screws and assemble parts. It's all achievable," said Wang Letian, vice president for products with Robotera.
The leap in dexterity is enabled by smarter "brains." Powered by large AI models trained on multimodal data, robots can now autonomously identify and sort objects.
"Last year, everybody was focusing on how to make robots walk stably. This year, we focus more on operational skills. That should be attributed to the development of embodied multimodal models. With dozens or hundreds of real-machine datasets, we can quickly fine-tune skill models," said Ji Chao, chief executive officer of LindenBot.
While robots' capabilities rise, their prices fall. Some compact humanoid robots now retail for as low as 30,000 yuan to 40,000 yuan (about 4,100 U.S. dollars to 5,500 U.S. dollars) apiece, driven by maturing supply chains.
"Traditional industrial robots can't handle point-to-point tasks alone, so we have to add some abilities of humanoid robots. The core components of industrial robots can be shared with humanoid robots. With technical iteration, the development of robots can show results quickly, and costs will drop," said Deng Shihai, vice president of Crobotp.
Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day 2025 World Robot Conference features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events.
Smarter, cheaper humanoid robots showcased at World Robot Conference
As Chinese-made new energy vehicles continue to power ahead and take the world by storm, the answer to what makes the country's smart manufacturing power strong enough to lead global auto production can be found in the electric vehicle (EV) HyperFactory of Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi.
The tech giant, better known for its smartphones and home appliance products, marked its bold foray into the auto market in 2021, when it set up a state-of-the-art factory in the Being Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beiing E-Town -- a key innovation hub for China's autonomous driving industry.
Despite the enormous scale of this facility, there are few workers in sight, with robotic arms instead moving with precision and speed, seamlessly assembling vehicle body components.
Every single Xiaomi SU7 electric car is born in this factory, where production lines run day and night, with a new car rolling off the line every 76 seconds. More than 700 robots work in sync across these highly automated production lines. Key processes are 100 percent automated -- making this facility a true example of next-generation manufacturing.
Song Jiaqiang, a production technology director at the Xiaomi EV HyperFactory, said the plant has set a benchmark in China's push for new quality productive forces -- an initiative aiming to promote high-tech development through innovation -- thanks to its exceptional application of artificial intelligence and automated processes.
"The first thing is the incredible level of automation and intelligence in this factory. Key processes are 100 percent automated. On top of that, we've introduced an industry-first AI (artificial intelligence) quality inspection system, which boasts an accuracy rate of 99.9 percent," he said.
Inside the factory, robots operate 24-hours a day, and they don't even need human staff to maintain their battery life -- when power runs low, they autonomously locate charging stations and recharge themselves.
Beyond core process automation, even material handling is finished by autonomous mobile robots, keeping the production lines running around the clock without interruption.
"The factory is packed with over 700 industrial robots. Right here in the body shop, we're looking at a 91 percent overall automation rate," said Song.
This advanced level of automation has been the key to Xiaomi's success, speeding up operational efficiency, ensuring greater build accuracy and ultimately delivering higher quality products, as Song explains.
"Take the rear door assembly, for example. Robots handle everything, from automatically picking up the part and inserting bolts, to placing it onto the body. They then inspect both the body and the component, while simultaneously tightening and adjusting the bolts to achieve a perfect fit with minimal gaps. It's a fully automated, intelligent process that drastically reduces, or even eliminates the need for human involvement," he said.
China's world-leading prowess in the smart manufacturing looks set to continue as the Xiaomi factory aims to further boost speed and AI capabilities, while helping upgrade the performance of domestically-made equipment.
Xiaomi's EV HyperFactory offers glimpse into future of smart manufacturing
