China is actively pushing humanoid robots out of the lab and into real-world deployments, with experts highlighting the challenges ahead and envisioning future development.
Performing back clip kicks, racing in marathons and playing ping-pong, China-made humanoid robots have become internet stars, which have left many wondering when they are ready for real jobs.
Wang Zhongyuan, president of the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, said humanoid robots still have a long way to go before they can be applied in real‑world scenarios.
"It can start to actually perform tasks in home-like hotel scenarios. If humanoid robots are really going to enter real home scenarios, I think there is still a long way to go," he said.
Wang pointed to several key challenges, including improving the robot's adapatability, along with task precision, battery endurance, and the safety of task completion.
"As these specific scenarios are implemented, we will also accumulate more data, and all these data will contribute to the training and emergence of more generalized robots in the future," Wang said.
Official data shows that China shipped around 17,000 humanoid robots in 2025, produced by more than 140 companies. The focus is no longer just on hardware performance. The goal is to teach robots to understand the physical world, to perceive their surroundings, make decisions autonomously and learn new tasks on the job. In industry terms, it's known as building a "physical world model."
"We are still in the process of gradually understanding the physical world based on digital sensing and digital computers. So, in order to help the robots to understand the real world and to interact with the real world, probably the data, the environment need to be more dynamic instead of purely static," said Sui Yanan, associate professor from Tsinghua University.
China on Tuesday launched a nationwide action plan to help humanoid robots move from dance performances and marathon races into factories, warehouses and hospitals. The authorities want humanoid robots and related key products to enter "work mode" in less than six months.
The plan also calls for more than 100 high-value applications to be created to support the deployment of 10,000 units by year-end. Six months is not a long time. But a concentrated effort like this can help the industry converge more quickly on viable engineering solutions that also drive companies along the industrial chain.
Experts share insights on real-world deployment of humanoid robots in China
