Chinese companies are increasingly deploying humanoid robots across various sectors, including factories, logistics centers, and even broadcasting stages.
On November 5, Xinhua News Agency introduced humanoid anchors 'Xinyan' and 'Xinyu' at the 7th World Media Summit forum on 'AI and Chinese-style Modernization' held in Beijing. The robots are designed to be life-sized, with renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou serving as the chief designer. During the forum, the female anchor Xinyan greeted the audience and read the opening news. Xinhua previously showcased an AI anchor in November 2018 in collaboration with the Chinese search engine Sogou, but this marks the introduction of a physical humanoid anchor.
The two robots are connected to Xinhua's AI news information agent 'Xinhua Yudian,' which retrieves vetted news content. Zhou Jian, chairman of Ubitech, explained that this structure reduces the risk of generative AI producing false information. Ubitech is responsible for the robots' artificial skin, hardware, operating system, emotional expression language model, and final product manufacturing.
In addition to its anchoring role, Ubitech is supplying humanoids for industrial applications. The company announced the mass production and delivery of its industrial humanoid 'Worker S2' began in November last year. Cumulative orders since early last year have exceeded 800 million yuan (approximately $112 million), with clients including BYD, Geely, Foxconn, and Sunfeng in the automotive and logistics sectors. The company aims to achieve an annual production capacity of 5,000 units this year.
Fieldwork examples are also emerging. Chinese robotics firm AGIBOT operated six wheeled humanoids, named 'G2,' in a convenience store in Shanghai from 10 a.m. on November 2 to 10 a.m. on November 3, completing a total of 1,730 tasks, including coffee preparation and food serving. The event was streamed live, attracting over 2 million viewers.
Xiaomi reported that a full-size humanoid worked alone for eight hours at its electric vehicle factory, handling the sorting of center console side covers. The company also mentioned that it is testing an open-source robot AI model trained on 100,000 hours of actual robot work data in its employee dormitory.
The Chinese government aims to enter the 'operational mode' phase by the end of this year, deploying key humanoid products for actual work in manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, retail, healthcare, and disaster response.
The U.S. and South Korea are also accelerating the adoption of physical AI. On November 5, U.S. humanoid company Agility became the first publicly traded humanoid specialist after merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Digit has moved over 100,000 boxes at GXO's logistics center in Georgia by November 2025.
Last month, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk announced during an earnings call that the company is producing initial Optimus units at mass production levels at its Fremont factory. Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot at its Georgia plant starting in 2028. In South Korea, the government eased safety regulations for industrial robots last month, allowing the deployment of 20 humanoids in semiconductor, automotive, shipbuilding, and logistics sectors.
According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), China installed 354,200 industrial robots last year, approximately 11.7 times more than South Korea's 30,200 installations. While the U.S. and South Korea are still in the preparation stages with public listings and regulatory relaxations, China is already building operational examples in the field.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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