Humanoid robots in China take spotlight at UBS conference

Humanoid robots in China took center stage at the UBS Greater China Conference, highlighting the country’s growing leadership in advanced robotics and artificial intelligence.

The first day of the UBS Greater China Conference concluded Friday in Shanghai, drawing investors, executives, and analysts from across the region. The event is one of the bank’s largest annual gatherings focused on Asia and emerging technology trends.

Analysts said robotics featured more prominently than in prior years, with humanoid robots receiving particular attention. They cautioned, however, that widespread household use of humanoid robots remains years away.

Another theme centered on artificial intelligence and its impact on global economic divisions. Speakers described a widening gap between “AI-developed” and “AI-developing” economies. China was described as firmly in the first group, while the United States was portrayed as pursuing a more capital-intensive push toward artificial general intelligence, or AGI. AGI refers to AI systems designed to perform a wide range of tasks at a human level, rather than narrow, specialized functions.

At the corporate level, Zhang Shipu, chief executive of Noetix Robotics, said China’s humanoid robot development is ahead of the United States, particularly in motion-control capabilities. UBS analyst Jolie Ho said Zhang highlighted progress in hardware stability, control accuracy, and full-body coordination.

Chinese humanoid robots are largely built using rotary-joint designs. This approach allows multiple joints to rotate freely, enabling smoother and more flexible movement that more closely resembles human motion. Zhang said these advances have been achieved without extremely high costs, giving Chinese firms an advantage in scaling development.

Yuan Bingbing, vice president of Robot Era, echoed those views during the same panel. She emphasized that software and hardware must advance together and compared the approach to vertically integrated development models used in the electric vehicle industry.

Yuan also outlined the conditions needed for humanoid robots to reach mass production. She said performance must be close enough to human capability to create demand, pricing must make economic sense for buyers, and companies must have strong engineering and manufacturing capacity to deliver at scale. She added that logistics currently represents the largest commercial opportunity, as humanoid robots in China are being deployed in factories and warehouses to supplement human labor rather than replace it.