Inside a technology innovation park in southeastern Beijing, robotic hands thread needles with surprising flexibility, as humanoid robots elsewhere in the complex have previously won a marathon event.

The National Information Technology Application Innovation Park, built on domestically developed information technologies, has expanded into areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information, 6G communications and intelligent hardware, and now hosts more than 1,000 technology companies.

Among the technologies on display, developments by robotics companies drew particular attention, with advances spanning humanoid robots, robotic components and embodied AI models.

Humanoid robots are often seen as the "crown jewel" of the robotics industry, combining key embodied AI technologies.

The Tiangong 3.0 humanoid robot, developed by the Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robots, highlights both technological progress and an open-source development approach.

The Tiangong series of robots has demonstrated high mobility. The company's Tiangong Ultra humanoid robot won last year's marathon, completing the 21.0975-kilometre course in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.

Galbot G1, developed by the company Galbot, is an embodied AI robot powered by large models and designed for complex scenarios. With a spatially intelligent large model integrated, it understands 3D environments and can autonomously break down long-range tasks into actionable steps.

Another exhibit, the L7 humanoid robot developed by Robotera is capable of performing tasks such as intelligent sorting and code scanning in logistics, as well as handling and assembly work in manufacturing scenarios.

Dexterous robotic hands are also a focus of the exhibition. Linkerbot demonstrated its hand performing fine-motor tasks such as threading a needle, highlighting its high level of flexibility. 

The device offers up to 42 degrees of freedom for the full hand, compared with 26 degrees for a human hand. Linkerbot has achieved monthly production of around 1,000 units and claims to hold about 80 percent of the global market share in the dexterous robotic hand segment.

By 2025, China had more than 140 domestic humanoid robot manufacturers, with over 330 humanoid robot models released, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Global shipments of humanoid robots surged to around 18,000 units in 2025, up 508 percent year on year, with Chinese firms based in cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing dominating the market share, according to a report released by the International Data Corporation.

Policy support has played a notable role in the development of humanoid robots. During the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), China has called for forward-looking development of future industries, position embodied intelligence as a new engine of growth, and set a key goal of substantial improvements in scientific and technological self-reliance and strength.