Wuhu in E China's Anhui cultivates thriving robot industry

In a laboratory of EFORT Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. in Jiujiang district, Wuhu, east China's Anhui Province, a cutting-edge scene is unfolding: a collaborative robot is responding to a voice command to serve a bowl of porridge.

Dong Zhipeng, a post-90s researcher from the T. Stone Robotics Institute at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is in charge of developing embodied artificial intelligence (EAI) algorithms. Dong and his colleagues are working to improve the robot.

A product of EFORT Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. is launched in Wuhu, east China's Anhui Province. (Photo courtesy of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Wuhu municipal committee)

"We're currently in the debugging and data collection phase. Technically, this is a closed loop of vision, perception, execution, and feedback. Once mature, EAI algorithms can be widely applied in different scenarios, including humanoid robots," Dong said.

In the testing workshop, a wheeled humanoid robot is undergoing a real-world training session, demonstrating natural posture, stable movement, and a top walking speed of 3 km/h.

This humanoid robot, named "yobot", stands approximately 1.75 meters tall and weighs around 75 kilograms. It was independently developed by Qizhi (Wuhu) Intelligent Robotics Co., Ltd.

"The project has only been running for six months, yet yobot can already perform basic tasks in automotive assembly logistics," said test engineer Zhao Xin.

Guo Leilei, vice president of Qizhi Robotics, said humanoid robots represent the integration of AI technology and are emerging as a key field in future industries.

"From cooking porridge to providing massages and folding clothes, humanoid robots will become everyday assistants as technology advances," Guo said, adding that humanoid robots hold vast potential for future applications, especially in areas like daily assistance and health monitoring.

A humanoid robot named "yobot" performs a task in Wuhu, east China's Anhui Province. (Photo courtesy of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Jiujiang district committee)

However, Guo is realistic about the challenges, believing that widespread adoption of humanoid robots requires significant improvements in precision and safety.

Different from industrial robots in the past, humanoid robots are capable of perception, reasoning, and autonomous decision-making.

Guo is gratified to see that China has domestically produced core components of robots, such as reducers, motors, and servo drives, which have gained widespread recognition in the market.

Photo shows the robot workshop of EFORT Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. in Jiujiang district, Wuhu, east China's Anhui Province. (Photo courtesy of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Jiujiang district committee)

EFORT produced fewer than 2,000 robots in 2020. Last year, that number exceeded 16,000, capturing 5.5 percent of China's domestic market.

This is inseparable from Wuhu's consistent efforts to nurture a fertile ecosystem for the robot industry.

As China's first national-level robot industry cluster, Wuhu has attracted over 300 upstream and downstream enterprises in the robot industrial chain.

A worker trains a robot. (People's Daily Online/Guo Hao)

Data shows that in 2024, Wuhu produced 20,000 robots, accounting for more than 60 percent of the province's total, and the robot industry's output value exceeded 35 billion yuan ($4.82 billion), with its comprehensive strength in the sector ranking seventh nationwide.