Could Sports Be the Cheapest Scenario for Robotics Industry to Implement?

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The iPhone moment for the robotics industry has already appeared on the sports field

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For example, in 2026, the Glory's Lightning and the U-Tree's Superhero did not hold separate launch events, but simply placed them in a robot competition, completing their public debut and quickly gaining nationwide recognition. According to an incomplete statistical report by the Robotics Big Lecture,

From April to September's end, robot competitions spanned five major cities, formed five types of competition formats, and the total number of participating robots exceeded 2,200.

In April, the first global half-marathon for humanoid robots was held in Beijing Yizhuang, with over 100 robot teams and 12,000 human runners competing together. The champion robot completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

In July, the first global humanoid robot combat league, URKL, was launched in Shenzhen Nanshan. The robots were 1.73 meters tall and weighed 75 kilograms. The champion prize was a pure gold belt, with a prize pool of 14 million yuan.

In August, the second World Humanoid Robot Sports Meeting was held in the National Speed Skating Hall in Beijing Chaoyang District, with 2,056 robots competing. The number of events expanded from 19 to 50 in the first edition.

On September 23, the 2026 Global Digital Trade Innovation Competition (Embodied Intelligence Robot Challenge) in Hangzhou, over 100 teams from universities and tech companies participated, setting up 14 formal events including tug-of-war, football,定点投篮, and a 6-hour relay race. It also pioneered the precedent of human-robot co-participation.

On September 29, the first Chongqing Robot Sports Meeting was held in Chongqing Dadao, with 30 robots competing. The ping-pong robot could hit the ball over 800 times continuously.

These five events have shifted people's attention from factories, homes, and logistics warehouses to a fact that was not previously discussed. People suddenly realized,

The real landing track for the robotics industry may have first appeared in sports fields, theme parks, and city squares.

More extensive competitions, more prizes, and more developers have made the iPhone moment for robots begin to show its initial signs.

01.

The three-in-one package of culture, sports, and tourism has suddenly become the biggest track

The list of real-world applications for China's robotics industry has traditionally focused on two scenarios. Industrial scenarios are factories, warehouses, and power inspection. Commercial scenarios are tour guides, welcoming guests, and cleaning.

These two scenarios have both generated real orders in the past two years. Recently, there was news that a cleaning robot from Hangzhou had secured 500 million yuan in orders from 2024 to 2026, with over 100 units deployed in public restrooms. Several leading robot companies in Fujian and Guangdong have already scaled the deployment of their power inspection robots to State Grid's substations.

But in 2026, both industrial and commercial scenarios faced the same challenge.

That is

Factories require stability, while households require safety and affordability

. Neither scenario is friendly for a robot company that has not yet achieved mass production.

A robot company selling a 500,000 yuan robot to a factory would have to calculate the cost. A robot costing 500,000 yuan would have a payback period of five years, equivalent to the factory buying a long-term debt.

The home robot market is even harder. A humanoid robot costing several ten thousand yuan is not a consumption item for a Chinese household—it's a decision.

Decision-making cycles are long, repurchase rates are low, and the window for comparison is small. Currently, the fun and safety of these robots have not reached the expectations of most people.

From May to September 2026, companies found the third track without exception.

The first global half-marathon for humanoid robots in Beijing Yizhuang; the first global humanoid robot combat league in Shenzhen Nanshan; the second World Humanoid Robot Sports Meeting in the National Speed Skating Hall in Beijing Chaoyang District; the 2026 Global Digital Trade Innovation Competition in Hangzhou; and the first Chongqing Robot Sports Meeting in Chongqing Dadao. At the same time,

At least five cities chose to send robots into

competitions, theme parks, city squares, and sports broadcasts.

The real landing of the robotics industry has shifted from factories and homes to the three-in-one package of culture, sports, and tourism

. Not only have more new companies and new product models emerged, but the competition formats have expanded from robot-to-robot to human-robot interaction.

Competitive forms such as robots playing table tennis, tennis, basketball, football, and boxing, which allow interaction, are increasingly being recognized and welcomed by ordinary audiences.

02.

Why has the three-in-one package become the biggest track?

The three-in-one package did not emerge out of nowhere. It is supported by three real needs.

The first need is that local governments need a 'technology + sports + tourism and culture' integration approach.

In the 2026 local government recruitment materials, this three-in-one package is a fixed phrase. A city needs more than just the registration of a few leading enterprises to obtain the 'Embodied Intelligence Industrial Base' label,

it also needs a carrier that can actively involve the general public, attract more media coverage, and impress the leaders.

Traditional sports events (marathons, basketball leagues) are already crowded, and new participants find it hard to stand out. Putting robots into traditional sports events is like adding a new protagonist to the old events. For example, the first Chongqing Robot Sports Meeting was jointly hosted by the Chongqing Sports Bureau, Chongqing University, and the Chongqing Dadao District People's Government. The three parties provided the platform, robots took the field, citizens watched, and media spread the news, completing city marketing while also establishing a new technological brand and city memory point.

The second need is that robot companies need a 'controllable + audience + shareable' demonstration venue.

Factory demonstrations have four problems. First, factories don't allow filming (core technology is confidential); second, there are no audiences (workers watch but don't cheer); third, live streaming is not possible (production lines are not网红打卡 points); and fourth, it's not possible to demonstrate multiple products at once (one robot does one thing).

Sports venues solve these four problems. First, events allow filming, so there's no need to worry about confidentiality; second, there are more audiences, with thousands of people at a sports meeting, and the number of people at the 2026 Global Digital Trade Innovation Competition in Hangzhou was even in the tens of thousands; third, there is short video dissemination, as robot running and falling naturally generates traffic; and fourth, it's possible to demonstrate dozens of products at once, with 30 competition events representing 30 product demonstrations, which companies are more willing to participate in.

A product director from a leading robot company told me a true statement in late August. He said,

'Selling 100 units of a robot to a factory may go unnoticed, but running 10 units on the field, with one falling, a celebrity打卡, and a child kicking a ball, can go viral on the internet.'

The third need is that city tourism and culture need new引流 points.

For example, the recent 'Global First Large-Scale Embodied Intelligence Theme Park' created by Zhiyuan, its predecessor, the Hengqin Changlong Spaceship Park, opened in 2024 as a space-themed park, and in September 2026, it was transformed into an embodied intelligence-themed park. The transformation was of the same park, the same product, with 300 permanent robots attracting many visitors. The scene was the same, but the narrative was changed.

Before the transformation, the narrative was 'space-themed park,' and after the transformation, it was 'robot-themed park.' The former was a carrier popularized in the 1990s, while the latter is the most desired label for Chinese city tourism and culture in 2026.

The three-in-one package, leveraging embodied intelligence, has become a container that serves three purposes. Local governments obtained robot platform memberships, companies showcased robot products, and cities entered the robot traffic flow.

03.

The iPhone moment for robots is on the track

Putting together the events of the past half-year, three numbers show exponential growth.

The World Humanoid Robot Sports Meeting grew from the first to the second edition,

the number of teams increased by 138%, and the number of robots doubled

. The number of events expanded from 19 to 50. The second edition, which closed in August 2026, had 2,056 robots competing,

multiple competition records were continuously broken.

The champion of the humanoid robot half-marathon used to take over 20 minutes to complete the race, but in April 2026, the champion in Beijing Yizhuang completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

In one year, robots advanced the half-marathon performance from 'running 3 kilometers' to 'running 21 kilometers'.

The URKL robot combat league, launched in the Shenzhen Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center,

the global finals champion prize was a pure gold belt, with a prize pool of 14 million yuan

. This was the first prize in 2026 with a 'pure gold belt' in the robotics industry.

The real delivery of robots in the cultural, sports, and tourism scenarios has also begun. The 300 robots at Hengqin Changlong are real deliveries, the over 100 cleaning robots in public restrooms in Hangzhou are real deliveries at the Digital Trade Innovation Competition, and the 30 robots at the Chongqing Dadao Sports Meeting are real deployments.

Putting these four numbers together, one underestimated fact becomes clear, that is,

The iPhone moment for the robotics industry may not be on the phone screen, not in the factory, but on the track.

The phone screen runs apps, the factory runs production lines, and the track runs robots.

The hallmark of the iPhone moment is a single category replacing the previous generation product in a common scenario. Let the phone replace the camera, let the MP3 replace the CD player, let electric vehicles replace fuel vehicles.

The way robots replace the previous generation product is,

not by replacing workers in factories, but by sports events replacing traditional roles, and making human-robot interaction a larger range of traffic codes.

A humanoid robot running on the sports field is not to show it working, but to replace the five traditional roles of 'athlete + actor + host + commentator + band.'

A robot at Hengqin Changlong is not on duty, but replacing the four traditional roles of 'actor + interactive NPC + guide + salesperson.'

The real KPI for the first stage of the robotics industry is not the factory delivery volume, but the role replacement rate in the cultural, sports, and tourism scenarios, as well as the potential traffic.

At the 2026 Global Digital Trade Innovation Competition hosted by the Robotics Big Lecture,

one media friend's words left a deep impression on me. He said,

'Now, people who have never held a robot's hand may be more than those who have never flown on a plane.'

04.

Industry observation, is the three-in-one package temporary or long-term?

Here is a real question: is the three-in-one package a temporary landing for the robotics industry, or a long-term scenario?

In the short term, the three-in-one package is the only viable commercial scenario for robot companies.

Industrial scenarios are too cold for a robot company that has not yet achieved mass production. Home scenarios are too sensitive to public prices. Overseas scenarios are still far from the recognition of a Chinese robot brand.

The three-in-one package is the only 'controllable + audience + shareable + real delivery' scenario for the robotics industry in 2026.

In the medium term, the three-in-one package is the necessary path for building user awareness in the robotics industry.

The factory scene is not visible to anyone. The home scene is blocked by price. The overseas scene is blocked by brand. The cultural, sports, and tourism scenes are the only ones that allow ordinary people to 'see robots in person'. When someone goes to the scene to watch robots run, fight, or hit a ball, he will stay for 3 seconds instead of 1 second when he sees a robot video next time. If there is human-robot interaction, this stay time will be even longer.

In the long run, the three-in-one set is the early supply chain for real shipment volume.

A leading enterprise deploys 300 robots at Hengqin Changlong, which is equivalent to verifying the four industrial-level capabilities of 'robot stability + robot durability + robot maintenance cost + robot multi-machine collaboration' simultaneously in a park.

A cleaning robot running for two years in multiple robot public restrooms is equivalent to running 1000,000 kilometers in real environments.

The true role of the three-in-one set of cultural, sports, and tourism is the combination of three-in-one sets of industrial-level training fields + user cognition training fields + business model training fields for the robot industry.

05.

True 'movement-based industrialization' of the robot industry.

The three-in-one set of cultural, sports, and tourism also has another value: it solves a real problem for the robot industry.

The real problem is that robots that can't walk first learned to compete on the field. This state is called

'movement-based industrialization'.

In the Chinese robot industry in 2026, at least two groups of technical conditions have not passed. One is whether the dexterous hand can stably grasp an egg. The other is whether the robot can run continuously for 30 days in a home scene without failure.

These two real problems are not tested by industrial scenes. Home scenes are unwilling to pay.

The three-in-one set of cultural, sports, and tourism is willing. The sports events have tracks, audiences, judges, prizes, scenes, and traffic, as well as a collection of videos of falls.

These are free test packages that neither industrial scenarios nor home scenarios are willing to give.

A leading robotics company incubated a dexterous hand company. Their engineers told me the truth in late August. He said,

'Our dexterous hand has no chance to grab parts in the factory, but in the sports meeting it grabbed once and was seen by the whole internet. This kind of free test is more valuable than any product launch.'

The cultural, sports, and tourism triple set is not the final scenario for the robotics industry. But it is certainly

the transitional scenario between the laboratory and the factory for the robotics industry.

The characteristics of a transitional scenario are that it is repetitive, underestimated, and is a bonus and reward, as well as more developers and integrators.

When these teams have finished running through this kind of transitional scenario on the competition field, looking back at cultural, sports, and tourism from the factory, they will realize that cultural, sports, and tourism is the cheapest training ground for the robotics industry.

Whether an industry can scale production and truly break through is not determined by the density of product launches, but by how many units have run, how many times they have fallen, and how many times they have been seen by the whole internet in the transitional scenarios.

06.

Epilogue, track, competition field, track

The real track where the robotics industry first lands is not in the factory, not in the home, but on the track.

After completing a half marathon for robots, humanoid robots prove they can run 21 kilometers, and China's leading position begins to become world-leading.

At the URKL robot combat competition field, a 1.73-meter, 75-kilogram robot kicks out a cool kick that causes a nationwide sensation, and the 14 million prize pool excites global developers.

In the World Humanoid Robot Sports Meet, 2056 robots, 50 events, surpassing humans has become history.

In the 2026 Global Digital Trade Innovation Competition, robot-human competition attracted millions of views online.

In the Hengqin Changlong Theme Park, 300 robots are permanently stationed here, the world's first embodied intelligence theme park attracts global tourists.

These scenes appeared simultaneously in China in 2026, not by chance, this is the real stage of China's robotics industry.

This stage still has real problems. Robots still have a long way to go before entering thousands of households, but the progress is visible, this state is called 'movement-based industrialization', which is similar to the version of Xiaomi plus a rifle.

This stage has real shipments. The 300 robots in Hengqin Changlong are real shipments, more than 100 cleaning robots in Hangzhou public restrooms are real shipments, and truly trained a batch of capable development teams, filling in the technical gaps piece by piece.

This stage has real understanding. A regular citizen watching 10 minutes of robots at a sports event, the next time seeing a robot video, the time spent watching increases, and the market education for the entire industry has started.

An industry moving from the laboratory to the factory, must have a transitional scenario in between,

track, competition field, competition platform, these are the real scenarios of the robotics industry in 2026, and are worth for robotics companies to explore.

END

Industrial robot companies

Eston Automation

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Efft Robotics

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Fafo Robotics

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Yuexiang Robotics

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Jiekai Robotics

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Songling Robotics

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Luoshi Robotics

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Atongmu Robotics

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Jizhi Jia

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Hikvision Robotics

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Yifei Technology

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Ailite Robotics

Services and Specialized Robotics Enterprises

Yijiahe

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Jingpin Special Equipment

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Qiteng Robotics

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Shihe Robotics

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Pudu Robotics

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Schroeder Robotics

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MAMMOTION

Humanoid Robotics Company

UBTech

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Unitree

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Cloud Depth

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Star Dynamics Era

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Wěijǐng Robotics

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Zhújì Power

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Lèjù Robotics

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Dàxiàng Robotics

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Màjì Atoom

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Zhòngqíng Robotics

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Pàsīní Perception

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Sàibōgē Robotics

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Shùzì Huaxia

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Fùlìyī Smart

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天链机器人

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开普勒人形机器人

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灵宝CASBOT

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清宝机器人

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浙江人形机器人创新中心

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动易科技

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智身科技

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PNDbotics

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卓益得机器人

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擎朗智能

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伽利略GALILEO

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松延动力

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天机智能

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卧安机器人

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理工华汇

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加速进化

具身智能企业

跨维智能

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银河通用

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千寻智能

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灵心巧手

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睿尔曼智能

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微亿智造

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Promote Technology

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Zhongke Silicon Chronicle

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Shu Tu Technology

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Lingqiao Intelligence

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Xingchen Intelligence

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Qiongche Intelligence

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Fanghou Infinite

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Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center

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National and Local Co-construction Humanoid Robot Innovation Center

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Dai Meng Robots

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Sibit Robot

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Star Sea Chart

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Yuequan Bionics

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Zeroth Equation Robot

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Zhongke Shen Gu

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Zhi Fang Square

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Da Ka Robot

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Haocun Technology

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Ju Shi Intelligence

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Xynova Xine Future

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Fei Xi Technology

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Future Power

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Boden Intelligence

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Qian Jue Technology

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Lingsheng Technology

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Ji Cui Intelligent Manufacturing

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Xin Baite Technology

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Chen Hunxian Technology

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Dexmal Original Power

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Youliqi

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Self-variable

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Ruiyan Intelligent Control Dexterous Hand

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Qifang Technology

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RoboScience Robot Science

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Zhongke Fifth Epoch

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Critical Point

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Danghong Technology

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Qiaojie Shu Wu

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Vbot Weitadongli

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Tashan Technology

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Ju Brain磐 Stone

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Youai Zhizhe Robot

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Zhi Xing Jian

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A Miao Robot

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Lu Ming Robot

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Quantum Intelligence

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Ru Yu Technology

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Tie Hu Robot

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Zhi Wu Ji

Medical Robot Enterprises

Yuanhua Intelligence

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Tianzhihang

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Sizhe Rui Intelligent Medical

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Jingfeng Medical

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Tuo Dao Medical

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Zhen Yida

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Shu Rui® Robot

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Luosen Bot

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Shui Mu Dongfang

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Kangnuo Sistem

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Di Shi Medical

Upstream Industrial Chain Enterprises

Lv De Harmonic Wave

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Yin Shi Robot

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Kunwei Technology

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Maita Intelligent

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Qingtong Vision

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Benmo Technology

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Lan Dian Touch Control

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BrainCo Qiang Brain Technology

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Yuli Instrument

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Ji Ya Jingji

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Sikan Technology

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Shen Yuan Sheng

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Fei Pu Navigation Technology

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Inks

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Juxia Intelligent Drive

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Lingyun Guang Yuanke Vision

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Xuanji Power

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Yiyou Technology

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Lingzhu Era

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HIT Huawei Ke

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Xinghui Sensor

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Lingdi Technology

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Quan Zhi Bo

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CubeMars Robot Power

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Wanglong Robot Elevator

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Hangkai Microelectronics

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Wutong Sensing Control