China's tech trial links space computing with OpenClaw, humanoid robot

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- In a milestone fusion of three frontier technologies, a Chinese lab has recently successfully demonstrated remote, intelligent control of ground-based humanoid robots using OpenClaw and computing power from orbit.

Conducted by the joint lab of GuoXing Aerospace Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the experiment integrated an open-source AI agent, space-based processing, and a terrestrial robot into a single closed-loop system.

In the trial, the operator issued voice commands that OpenClaw uploaded to China's orbiting satellites. Onboard large language models performed in-orbit inference using space computing power, then transmitted decisions back to Earth for OpenClaw to control ground robot movements.

This task pioneers the deployment of AI Token-calling services in space, validating the feasibility of space computing for powering silicon-based intelligent agents.

When ground networks prove unreliable, space computing may provide high-performance AI capabilities for humanoid robots, quadruped robotic dogs, autonomous vehicles and drones.

In January, GuoXing Aerospace, a commercial aerospace firm, uplinked Alibaba's Qwen3 large language model to its space-based computing center, enabling end-to-end reasoning tasks entirely in orbit. Last May, China launched a new constellation of 12 space computing satellites into orbit, the first cluster of GuoXing Aerospace's space computing project.

The company based in southwestern China's Chengdu city is planning to build a sprawling network of 2,800 specialized computing satellites by 2035, including 2,400 inference satellites and 400 training satellites deployed across sun-synchronous, dawn-dusk, and low-inclination orbits at altitudes of 500 to 1,000 kilometers.

Its second and third satellite clusters are expected to be deployed this year, with a 1,000-satellite network completed by 2030.