This 'school' trains humanoid robots before they enter workforce

Photo shows humanoid robots at the Beijing Humanoid Robot Data Training Center.

As humanoid robots become increasingly integrated into everyday life, their development now includes a critical educational phase -- training. In Beijing's Shijingshan district, the Phase II Beijing Humanoid Robot Data Training Center, the largest facility of its kind in China, functions as a "school" where robots undergo scenario-based learning before deployment.

Spanning two floors, the center replicates real-world production and living environments at full scale, ranging from coil sorting and parcel packing to cooking and bedroom organization. Each training module, or "cell," is modular and frequently reconfigured to reflect diverse operational contexts.

The primary model under training is "Kuafu," a 1.66-meter-tall humanoid robot. Training is conducted in "small-class" settings, with each robot assigned two human trainers. "Just as children require repeated practice to walk, robots must train extensively across diverse scenarios to build functional intelligence," said Zhu Kai, head of the training center.

He explained that the center addresses a key bottleneck in the robotics industry: the lack of high-quality, structured data. Scenario-based training generates data that are systematically cleaned, labeled, and supplied to enterprises for large-model development.

Why centralize robot training?

Trainers train humanoid robots.

Zhu said that training was previously conducted independently by individual companies, akin to small-scale workshops, which led to inconsistent and often low-quality data. In contrast, centralized, standardized data production enables the creation of high-quality, cost-effective datasets that benefit the entire industry.

According to estimates, the training center can generate several million high-quality data entries each year. It is also part of a nationwide, cross-regional data-collection model linked with training sites in cities such as Suzhou, Jinan, Hefei, and Zhengzhou.

What do robots learn in classes?

In one of the data collection zones, trainers Shi Xuanyu and Han Weiqi collaborated to teach a robot the task of "protective packaging," part of the smart home scenario category. Wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset and using handheld controllers, Han remotely guided the robot to place bubble wrap into a box and insert a remote control, while Shi monitored and recorded data from a computer terminal. The two trainers switched roles after several hours to ensure precision and consistency.

A trainer trains a humanoid robot.

At the training center, robots begin by selecting a "major" from four major categories, including industrial manufacturing, smart home applications, elderly care services, and 5G-integrated scenarios, covering a total of 16 specialized disciplines.

Shi and Han, considered among the center's top trainers, typically require seven or eight days to guide a robot through a single scenario. The center employs 110 staff members, most of whom were born in the 2000s. "Training requires meticulous attention to detail," Shi said. For example, teaching a robot to place a frying pan on a stove involved 1,250 repetitions -- each movement precisely recorded to improve the robot's coordination and gradually replicate human-like performance.

So far, robots trained at the center have acquired more than 20 operational skills, including material handling, inspection, and delivery, with task success rates exceeding 95 percent.

What happens to these robots after "graduation"?

An electronic display at the training center highlights the deployment of several "outstanding graduates." Some work as material handlers at factories of Chinese automaker China FAW Group Co., Ltd., couriers at Shenzhen Capital Group, power inspection officers at China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., or service guides at the Zhongguancun Forum, a state-level platform for global high-tech innovation, exchange, and cooperation.

One key factor behind their employability is the center's scenario-based practical training. Environments replicated at the facility mirror real-world operations -- from ZTE's intelligent production lines and FAW Group's automobile workshops to Chinese logistics giant SF Express's logistics systems and Unilever's shampoo boxing operations.

As more employers seek to integrate humanoid robots into routine operations. As the industry enters a phase of rapid development, increasing numbers of robots trained at the center are expected to enter homes and industries nationwide, serving diverse sectors across society.

(Photos provided by the media center of Shijingshan district, Beijing)