CHENGDU, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Seven humanoid robots were on Friday officially debuted in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province, and are reportedly set for use at the World Games 2025, which will be hosted by the southwestern metropolis in China.
The robots, unveiled at a press conference to showcase Sichuan's innovation achievements in the robot industry, will work in various scenarios, such as torch relay, sports exhibitions, reception, and retail services, according to Liu Sha, an official with the Chengdu municipal bureau of economy and information technology.
"The debut of these humanoid robots marks a significant breakthrough in Chengdu's development in this cutting-edge field," Liu told Xinhua.
The robots, all developed by the Chengdu Humanoid Robot Innovation Center Co., Ltd. (CHRIC), include six prototype robots and one still in the conceptual stage.
Among them, the "Honghu," a bipedal humanoid robot, is the first fully self-developed humanoid robot made in Chengdu, featuring a "powerful brain" that enables the robot to truly understand, reason, and execute tasks, the CHRIC President Zhang Ruirui told Xinhua.
"Honghu" is equipped with China's first humanoid robot high-speed inference model based on a diffusion architecture and a robot multimodal model. So, it is able to perceive external information from multiple dimensions, accurately interpret abstract semantics, and swiftly plan task pathways, said Zhang.
Another eye-catching robot launched at the press conference is the Konka-1, a second-generation, single-arm wheeled humanoid robot which is ultra-lightweight and thought to be the first of its kind in China.
A video played at the press conference shows the robot -- this particular one being referred to as Ray -- working in a family setting.
"Hey, Ray, please get me a cold sugar-free drink," Ray's owner asks in the video.
Upon receiving its command, Ray deduces from the keyword "cold" that it should look in the refrigerator for the drink. Then, by interpreting the keyword "sugar-free," it reads the labels on the bottles to find the right one. Ultimately, the robot selects a cold sugar-free cola from the refrigerator and delivers it to its owner.
Zhang said that the CHRIC has focused on the "brain" technology of humanoid robots, aiming to create the "most powerful brain" for these machines.
Since the beginning of this year, the CHRIC has made over 30 world-leading technological achievements related to humanoid robot "brains," including its development of the country's first multimodal task execution system for humanoid robots.
The Konka-1, which has the CHRIC's "powerful brain," can understand task intent rapidly, observe its environment, infer task processes, generate task flows, control its limbs independently, and complete tasks accurately, according to Zhang.
The robot has a maximum operating height of 1.6 meters, a maximum arm reach of 1.1 meters and a maximum payload capacity of 5.5 kg, positioning it at the forefront of the robotics industry, Zhang said.
As one of the world's lightest humanoid robots, the complete machine weighs just 25 kg, while the industry average ranges between 60 kg and 250 kg.
Its load-to-weight ratio is 0.22, the highest globally and more than five times the industry average, Zhang said, adding that the robot boasts a runtime of eight hours, compared to the industry average of about one hour.
China's robotics industry has entered a period of rapid development in recent years.
According to a report on the humanoid robot industry released in July at the 2024 World AI Conference in Shanghai, China's humanoid robot market scale is approximately 2.76 billion yuan (384 million U.S. dollars) this year. By 2029, it is expected to expand to 75 billion yuan, which would account for 32.7 percent of the global market.
"We aim to provide innovative intelligent solutions across various applications, including industrial production and home life through our robots," Zhang said.
The World Games is the highest-level international comprehensive sports event for non-Olympic sports. The Chengdu World Games will be held from Aug. 7 to 17, 2025. ■
