In 2026, the industry of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence has seen significant progress, with the focus shifting from creating prototypes to delivering actual value. The article explores the importance of embodied intelligence models (the 'brain') in defining industry competitiveness, the challenges of data collection, and the exploration of new technical paths like world models and VLA. It also discusses the industry's efforts to overcome data scarcity through synthetic data and collaborative data initiatives.
The media briefing for the 2026 Global Developer Pioneer Conference and International Embodied Intelligence Skills Competition took place on September 29 at the Zhangjiang Modility Community. The event focused on the application of embodied intelligence technology in real-world scenarios. The conference aims to promote the large-scale implementation of embodied intelligence technology in industries such as manufacturing, services, and special operations through simulated competitions, online simulations, and real-world competitions. The event attracted wide participation from government agencies, enterprise representatives, and developer communities, and the main competition is planned to be held from October 23 to 25 at the Zhangjiang Science Hall in Shanghai.
Professor Shi Qing's team from Beijing Institute of Technology was inspired by the high-speed running mechanism of the elephant shrew. They designed a micro quadruped robot named FLEXOR equipped with a dual-joint coupled spine. Through dynamic spine-leg coordination, the robot achieved a 31.6% increase in speed and a 32.2% reduction in energy consumption without upgrading its motors. The study reveals the critical role of the timing coordination between the spine and legs in locomotion performance and verifies the universality of this mechanism across different robot morphologies, providing new insights for highly mobile embodied intelligent robots.