GUANGZHOU, July 8 (Xinhua) -- During recent visits to robotics enterprises and labs in southern China, I encountered a number of scenes straight out of sci-fi: a dancing robot barely chest-high with eyes pulsing light, a pup-sized wheel-legged robot scaling slopes with acrobatic grace, and a small bottle filled with countless nano-robots. Welcome to China’s real-world robot wonderland.
At Shenzhen’s robot company ENGINEAI, I saw PM01, a 40kg humanoid with 24 joints and a 320-degree rotating waist motor, performing near-flawless choreography until a minor floor dimple tripped it up.
"Robots can’t replace humans yet, but they excel at turning stumbles into joy," joked an engineer as he helped the little robot up.
"Every fall is a lesson, and teaches us how to optimize its agility," explained ENGINEAI’s co-founder Yao Qiyuan. "When it falls, we dissect its code like performing a surgery, and fix the problem," he added. It’s through this iterative learning that PM01 accomplished its crowning achievement -- the world’s first humanoid front flip -- last February.
When I asked if dancing was just a spectacle, Yao clarified: "It’s a test of motion control. We’re developing capabilities like autonomous recovery and obstacle avoidance for future applications."
Watching PM01 nail its second attempt, I wondered: Will future robots view these early stumbles as precious growing pains?
While PM01 leverages human-like size and movements to fit our world, the wheel-legged robot I encountered next seems intent on winning through compact ingenuity.
At Direct Drive Tech, a young company specializing in embodied AI robotics and direct-drive joint modules, located in Dongguan, I observed their wheel-legged robot, "TITA," in action.
No larger than a puppy, it navigated the test field with striking agility: walking, circling, and climbing slopes. Through real-time posture algorithms, it maintained a steady pace even on inclines, while its depth camera enabled it to follow humans like an attentive pet.
Liu Xitong, a senior executive of Direct Drive Tech, told me that they have launched multiple wheel-legged robots and direct-drive motor products. The direct-drive motors have been applied in consumer devices, including robot vacuums, handheld floor washers, air purifiers, hotel service robots, and restaurant delivery robots of various brands.
Liu explained to me that compared to traditional motors, direct-drive models eliminate the gear reducer, enhancing performance through increased torque density. This translates to a longer lifespan, lower failure rates, greater control precision, and quieter operation, making them particularly well-suited for products or equipment that operate in proximity to humans.
My robot tour took a microscopic turn at the Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society. A staff member showed me a vial of murky liquid -- invisible to the naked eye, but under magnification, it swarmed with magnetic nano-robots.
"Inject them into blood vessels," explained the staff member, "and external magnets will guide them to cluster around tumors, blocking blood supply to starve the cancerous tissue." I learned this approach is now undergoing large-animal trials, edging toward clinical tests.
Ding Ning, deputy dean of the institute, stated that they focus on deploying robotic technologies across multiple sectors, including energy, transportation, smart manufacturing, urban management, medical rehabilitation, and related fields. "Through partnerships with leading enterprises, we’re tackling core technical challenges to serve as an industrial catalyst," he added.
Ding further shared broader insights on the robot industry: "We’re enhancing energy efficiency by enriching robots’ sensory perception -- enabling capabilities like skin intuitively knowing water temperatures without calculations."
He also revealed a fascinating byproduct of failure: collaborating with artist Shen Shaomin, they’ve transformed scrapped prototypes into gallery installations. "These ’dead’ trial models," Ding said, "find new life in art after completing their research journey."
Data underscores the rapid growth of China’s robot industry. China hosted 451,700 robotics enterprises by December 2024, a 206 percent increase from 2020. Morgan Stanley’s recent research forecasts even greater momentum: by 2050, China’s humanoid robotics market is expected to reach 6 trillion yuan (about 838 billion U.S. dollars), with 59 million units deployed nationwide.
As China’s robotics surge transforms factories, neighborhoods, and living rooms into landscapes of automation, what were once scenes confined to science fiction are now materializing at an unprecedented pace, soon to become the new standard of tomorrow.
(Xinhua reporters Song Chen and Xu Hongyi also contributed to the story.)
原文地址：http://en.people.cn/n3/2025/0708/c90000-20337546.html