At the 2026 World Robot Conference Forum, held in Beijing from August 19 to 22, Zhongke Cloud Valley CEO Zeng Guang shared his perspective on how to evaluate the true worth of robotics.

He stated that the value of robots typically stems from four key benefits: quality, efficiency, safety, and flexibility. Alongside these gains, four categories of costs must be weighed: procurement, integration, maintenance, and downtime. Only when sustainable benefits surpass the total lifecycle costs can robots genuinely deliver lasting value.

Drawing from his experience advancing smart manufacturing, Zeng Guang outlined three key lessons: first, automation should be built on advanced processes; second, digitalization requires lean management as its foundation; and third, intelligent systems depend on robust data governance. He noted that these principles apply equally to the deployment of intelligent robots.

He emphasized that introducing humanoid robots into factories is not about simply handing over existing human tasks to machines. If outdated manual procedures are merely replicated by training robots to mimic the same motions, the only change is the executor—offering little meaningful benefit. A more rational approach is to first re-examine workflows, tooling, and processes to determine whether the process itself is already optimal and which type of intelligent robot suits it best. Advanced processes, he argued, are the essential precondition for robots to create value.