A ro-ro cargo vessel carrying 6,115 Chinese-made vehicles set sail from Fuzhou Port for Brazil on Saturday, the largest single shipment of export vehicles from east China's Fujian Province.
An aerial view revealed a sprawling 500,000-square-meter lot packed with rows of new energy vehicles, while thousands of cars slowly drove into the vessel's cavernous cargo decks at the Fuzhou New Port International Container Terminal.
"Since the start of this year, Fuzhou Port has maintained a high-frequency ro-ro operation cycle. We've set three record highs in the number of ro-ro export voyages, the total vehicle export volume, and the number of vehicle brands exported," said Wang Jun, project manager of China Fuzhou Ocean Shipping Agency Co., Ltd.
According to Fuzhou Customs, the port has operated 32 ro-ro voyages so far this year to nine countries and regions worldwide, exporting 51,108 vehicles, a staggering 40-fold increase compared to the same period last year.
Fujian records largest single load of export vehicles
Chinese robotics firms have made significant breakthroughs in the development and manufacturing of core components, as highlighted at the 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC), which wrapped up on Sunday in Beijing.
The 2026 World Robot Conference, which ran from Wednesday to Sunday, drew more than 300 exhibitors from 26 countries, with over 3,000 products on display, including more than 300 debuts.
One of the highlights of this year's WRC was the considerable presence of dexterous-hand sensor makers, joint module suppliers and chip manufacturers. These component suppliers, once supporters behind finished robots, have now also taken center stage in their own niche sectors -- a sign that China's robotics industry is maturing into a more sophisticated ecosystem.
"Now regarding the market demand for embodied AI, expectations for joint module intelligence and sensory capabilities are growing higher and higher. We will integrate more sensors into the joint modules to make them much smarter," said Weng Jinxian, an exhibitor.
Many robots on display have been rapidly moving past exhibition displays and stepping into real-world operational roles. A company showcased three- and five-fingered robotic hands tailored for logistics sorting, pharmacies, and industrial manufacturing. Exhibitors pointed out that the vast majority of parts for these hands are now domestically produced, significantly lowering production costs and boosting safety and reliability.
"We don't just view it [the robotic hand] as a single piece of hardware. We hope the hand comes with 'brain' capabilities, treating the software ecosystem as a very important part of our product. This includes planning, decision-making, control, and other AI algorithms to accelerate its rapid deployment across thousands of industries," said Wang Peng, another exhibitor.
Beyond commercial applications, the maturation of these core components is enabling robots to build the "hard skills" needed to adapt to extreme environments, including firefighting, mine surveying, and power grid inspections.
Driving these robots as to continuously challenge environmental limits are homegrown core components that have steadily achieved independent breakthroughs.
"When we first started making power grid robots, parts like motors and drivers still had to be imported. Now, the core components of these new models are entirely homegrown and fully self-controlled," Guo Rui, an exhibitor.
Core component breakthroughs take center stage at World Robot Conference
