From eye-catching performances at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala to competing alongside humans in sport games, China's AI-powered humanoid robots are developing rapidly and ready for more real-world application scenarios.
The year 2025 is widely regarded within the industry as the start of mass production of commercial humanoid robots. Data show China has been home to over 140 companies producing full humanoid robots, with over 330 humanoid robot models released last year.
"China's humanoid robots are now able to stand still, walk steadily and run fast. Efforts are made in expanding high-value application scenarios, including public services and industrial operations, to scale up new technologies and products. We will continue to adopt an open competition mechanism for selecting the best candidates and establish major national science and technology projects to improve capabilities in developing large AI models, integrated joint modules, and computing chips," said Zhang Yunming, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
Zhang said the MIIT will strengthen testing and certification related to humanoid robots' product quality, cyber security and data security, while promoting research and management on science and technology ethics to ensure high-quality development with strong safety safeguards.
He said the ministry will also enhance financial support for humanoid robots through the National AI Industry Investment Fund, build an open-source humanoid robot community, and release guidelines for building a comprehensive standard system covering humanoid robots and embodied AI, promoting the sharing of innovation results around the world.
China’s humanoid robots ready for more real-world applications
As Portugal's presidential race enters a runoff, voters are voicing frustration over housing, wages, healthcare, and education.
On Sunday, Portugal launched the first major election of Europe's 2026 political calendar. Voters on the streets of Lisbon were focused more on day-to-day issues.
"The issue I carry the most when I'm casting the vote is about our housing prices, because we are having a major crisis. Even for young people, it's really hard to buy our first house. And even renting, the prices in Lisbon are collapsing, even outside, even the outskirts are collapsing. And about our healthcare national system, because it's also collapsing. It's a very complicated issue. And I'm a teacher and when I cast my vote, I need to think about my profession and my future colleagues as well," said Maria.
"I'm concerned about things such as education in Portugal, the healthcare in Portugal, the wages which are pretty low compared to other countries in Europe. Basically for me those are the key points - education, health and wages. And right now, also the cost of living in Portugal is pretty high," said Juan.
Portugal's presidential election will proceed to a second round, with Antonio Jose Seguro leading the first round with 30.69 percent of the votes, according to data released by the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration.
Chega party leader Andre Ventura placed second with 26.97 percent of the vote, followed by Luis Marques Mendes of the center-right Social Democratic Party in third place, with 14.82 percent.
The move to a runoff marks the first time in 40 years that a Portuguese presidential election has required a runoff between the two leading candidates.
The runoff vote is scheduled for Feb. 8, with the winner to be determined by a simple majority.
Portuguese voters prioritize housing, wages, healthcare as presidential race heads to runoff
