More than 50 Guangdong-based enterprises are participating in the 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC 2026), held in Beijing from August 19 to 22, making the province's delegation one of the most prominent presences at the globally watched technology event. The scale of Guangdong's participation leads the nation, with exhibitors spanning the entire embodied intelligence industry chain — from upstream core components to downstream complete machines.

Within the bustling exhibition halls, Guangdong's pavilion showcases the province's comprehensive industrial capabilities. Upstream suppliers include EVE Energy and Grepow providing specialized power batteries, Orbbec offering 3D vision sensors, Newgear supplying high-precision planetary roller screws, Qianghe Motor delivering precision servo motors, Huiwen Intelligent Manufacturing contributing joint structures, and Yuhusen providing transmission components. Midstream companies such as CVTE and Zhiwei Intelligent supply control motherboards and edge computing platforms, Neoway provides 5G communication modules, and Lingsi Intelligent and Saike Technology offer perception and safety modules. Downstream, prominent robot makers including UBTech, Dobot, LimX Dynamics, and Daxiang Antai are displaying complete products.

A full industrial chain is on display, arranged in sequence from core components to finished robots — from 1:1 replicas of industrial production lines to coffee-serving robots capable of precise cocktail mixing, to highly anticipated bionic humanoid robots. Guangdong companies are demonstrating the depth of the province's "Southern Guangdong Craftsmanship" through tangible technological strength.

During the conference, Zou Yongbing, Chief Economist of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, shared insights on the province's exhibition highlights, industrial layout, and future plans.

Key Highlights of Guangdong's Participation

Zou outlined three major highlights of the Guangdong delegation. First, the "Southern Guangdong Craftsmanship" collective debut leads the nation in both scale and competitive strength. With over 50 enterprises participating in exhibitions and competitions, multiple leading companies have advanced to the finals of the robot competition. The exhibiting companies cover critical industry chain segments including core components, humanoid robot complete machines, AI algorithms, and industry applications, featuring both listed leaders like UBTech, Zhongqing, and EVE Energy, as well as emerging players in the humanoid robot sector such as LimX Dynamics, Xingchen Intelligent, and Luming Robot. The province also organized public platforms like the Guangdong Embodied Intelligent Robot Innovation Center to participate.

Second, the innovative achievements are substantive, with vivid and practical application scenarios. Key technologies and products on display include UBTech's highly bionic robot U1, which has been praised by visitors as "the robot closest to a real human." Leku Robot has created a 1:1 replica of a complete industrial production line, autonomously performing complex tasks such as destacking, handling, and material loading. Zibian Robot demonstrates rapid sorting capabilities in logistics scenarios with outstanding speed and accuracy. Zhipingfang Robot creates coffee, ice cream, and cocktails on-site with precise and fluid movements. In core components, self-developed achievements from Zhaowei Electromechanical, Dahuan Robot, Orbbec, and Leisai Intelligent — including dexterous hands, electric grippers, vision sensors, and frameless torque motors — are also prominently displayed. These exhibits closely align with the conference theme, showcasing robots' deep application capabilities in Guangdong's advantageous industries such as electronics, automotive manufacturing, and warehousing logistics.

Third, competitive strength is outstanding, backed by a robust talent pipeline. Companies including LimX Dynamics, Zhongqing, and Dobot have formed teams to participate in professional competitions like the "Co-robot Challenge." Meanwhile, multiple youth and vocational college teams from Guangdong are competing in the World Robot Contest, forming a multi-tiered participation structure that spans enterprises, vocational schools, and young students — demonstrating the province's comprehensive strength from exhibition display to real-machine competition.

Key Initiatives in Industrial Cultivation and Technological Breakthroughs

Guangdong is one of the primary clusters for large-scale, commercially viable embodied intelligent robot industries in China, with comprehensive strength ranking among the top tier both domestically and globally. In 2025, the province's industrial robot and service robot output reached 336,300 units and 15.18 million units respectively, accounting for 43.5% and 81.7% of national production. Industrial robot output has ranked first nationwide for six consecutive years.

The province is advancing three key areas of work. First, accelerating breakthroughs in key technologies to strengthen self-reliance. Guangdong has implemented critical component research programs, initially establishing 12 projects covering high-performance batteries, dexterous hands, and high-end sensors, with phased results already achieved. A second batch of project applications is now underway, targeting breakthroughs in "brain" algorithms, real-world scenario data, and advanced materials.

Second, opening high-value application scenarios to drive technology adoption with substantial investment. Guangdong has pioneered a national-first "Embodied Intelligent Application Scenario Challenge Tour Competition," jointly organized by the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, the Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and relevant cities. State-owned enterprises take the lead in opening application scenarios, supporting embodied intelligent robot companies in forming industrial consortia for "leader-challenging" application research, with over 100 million yuan in dedicated research funding. The Guangzhou Baiyun and Yuexiu rounds commenced in June and July respectively, with competitions continuing across key cities throughout the province. Over 50 scenarios have been opened, covering intelligent manufacturing, energy inspection, and healthcare rehabilitation, while 206 enterprises are simultaneously engaged in embodied intelligent real-scenario training — creating a virtuous cycle of "attracting enterprises through competition, selecting the best through competition, and promoting implementation through competition."

Third, accelerating AI empowerment for deep applications in manufacturing. Guangdong has innovatively established the "Yuezhifu" AI-enabled manufacturing supply-demand matching platform, focusing on empowering through new technologies, new processes, new materials, and new equipment. The platform forms a complete AI value-chain empowerment pathway: one demand list, one resource library, one online platform, a series of matchmaking events, and a set of supporting policies. Currently, the platform has aggregated 962 empowerment institutions, published over 2,400 resources, and facilitated 425 collaboration cases, forming a complete service loop from capability discovery to partnership facilitation to tangible results.

Moving forward, the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology will fully support embodied intelligent robot enterprises, continuing to advance the "Southern Guangdong Craftsmanship" innovation narrative and strengthening Guangdong's embodied intelligence industry brand. The concentrated display of over 50 enterprises represents not merely scale, but a microcosm of Guangdong's cross-city coordinated, highly specialized manufacturing foundation. Leveraging the Greater Bay Area's mature electronic information industry and advanced manufacturing clusters, Guangdong is recombining decades of accumulated supply chain capabilities into the robotics sector. From laboratory technical validation to market-ready products with pricing power, the commercial closed-loop for Guangdong-made robots is rapidly accelerating — transforming today's industrial scale into tomorrow's technological influence and market pricing authority.