Imagine coming home after a long day’s work. You say to a humanoid robot named HangBao: “I’d like a cup of tea.” With its dexterous hands, HangBao skillfully gets to work, and soon a warm cup of tea is handed to you. A scene once confined to sci-fi fantasy is gradually turning into reality.

Fueled by technological leaps and policy support, humanoid robots have emerged as a pivotal new track for future industrial growth. Provinces and cities across China have launched fierce competition to develop this sector. Beijing, Shanghai and other metropolises have rolled out supportive policies, built innovation hubs and raced to deploy humanoid robot industries.

Industrial strength underpins urban competitiveness. As a city brimming with innovation vitality, Hangzhou is striving to build an internationally leading humanoid robot industrial cluster. Reporters learned from Hangzhou Municipal Development and Reform Commission that the city has officially released the Hangzhou Humanoid Robot Industry Development Plan (2024–2029) (hereinafter referred to as the Plan), which lays out key tasks covering 15 dimensions to fuel high-quality growth of the robotics industry.

With efficient implementation of the Plan, what favorable conditions will Hangzhou foster for humanoid robot development? In this race to cultivate new quality productive forces, what unique strengths will keep Hangzhou at the forefront?

Prioritizing “Optimal Robot Ontology + Most Powerful AI Brains”

Hangzhou Unveils New Policies to Tap a Trillion-Dollar TrackGoldman Sachs forecasts that global sales of humanoid robots will register a compound annual growth rate of 94% from 2025 to 2035, with the market size hitting USD 154 billion by 2035. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, predicts that global demand for humanoid robots could reach 10 billion units in the long run.

Faced with this massively promising market, Hangzhou is moving fast and determined to take the lead.

Back in June this year, Liu Jie, Deputy Secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee, conducted special research visits to humanoid robot enterprises and platforms. He stressed the need to accelerate the cultivation of the humanoid robot industry, expand market entities, deepen industry-research collaboration, optimize the industrial ecosystem, comprehensively boost technological innovation capacity, and seize the emerging track of future industries.

Guided by the Plan, Hangzhou will center its efforts on developing optimal robot ontology + most powerful AI brains, and speed up the establishment of an integrated innovation system and full industrial chain ecosystem covering R&D, design, manufacturing and application of complete humanoid robot products.

• By 2027: A preliminary industrial innovation system will take shape, with basic supporting infrastructure for humanoid robots fully in place.

• By 2029: The industry will achieve leapfrog growth in scale, and a complete full-chain ecosystem and industrial cluster will be basically established.

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“To boost collaborative innovation between industry, universities and research institutes and accelerate commercialization of research outcomes, Hangzhou will push forward the construction of high-caliber industrial innovation platforms known as ‘One Center, One Alliance and Five Platforms’,” an official from Hangzhou Municipal Development and Reform Commission explained.

• One Center: Humanoid Robot Innovation Center

• One Alliance: Humanoid Robot Industry Alliance

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• Five Platforms: Key Technology Research Platform, Public Technical Service Platform, Training, Testing & Pilot Scale-up Platform, Scenario Matching Platform, and Industrial Financial Service Platform that serve the entire industrial chain.

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As a researcher in robotics, Zhu Shiqiang, Deputy Party Secretary of Zhejiang University and Dean of its Robotics Research Institute, expressed great excitement over the release of the Plan. “The Plan delivers systematic, pragmatic arrangements for core technology breakthroughs, foundational capacity building and flagship product incubation,” he commented. Driven by the Plan, Hangzhou’s humanoid robot sector will form a positive cycle of technological innovation and industrial agglomeration, foster in-depth cooperation and resource sharing among upstream and downstream firms, and speed up the transformation of scientific advances into tangible productive forces.

Consolidating Inherent Advantages to Lay a Solid Foundation for Forward-Looking Layout

Unitree Robotics’ H1 and G1 general-purpose humanoid robots have become star attractions at major exhibitions, maintaining leading shipment volumes across the industry. Deep Robotics’ LYNX all-terrain wheel-legged robot has racked up 19 million views for footage showcasing its off-road extreme mobility. Wuba Intelligence’s D11 humanoid robot has completed real-world trial runs on automotive production lines. Since the start of this year, technologically advanced robots manufactured in Hangzhou have repeatedly earned widespread industry recognition.

Behind every breakthrough core technology lies years of steady accumulation by Hangzhou’s innovative tech firms. Wang Xingxing, Founder and CEO of Unitree Robotics, noted that the company’s technical reserves in high-performance quadruped robots have enabled its rapid progress on the new humanoid robot track.

At present, Hangzhou is home to over 200 robotics-related enterprises, with industrial output of robotics products hitting RMB 15 billion in 2023. The city has cultivated 10 national-level specialized, sophisticated, unique and innovative “Little Giant” enterprises, covering all industrial links including robot component manufacturing, complete machine assembly and system integration.

To achieve its goal of building a national innovation highland for humanoid robots, what comparative strengths does Hangzhou hold against both its past self and peer cities?

First comes the complete industrial chain. Hangzhou hosts a roster of leading manufacturers developing core robot components such as reducers, servo drives, intelligent perception modules and control systems, including Newjian Electromechanical, Huandong Technology, Hikrobot and Huarui Tech. For robot “AI brains”, local pioneers of embodied AI include Alibaba Cloud and Lulu Robot.

Second lies abundant scientific research resources. Hangzhou boasts world-class innovation platforms: Zhejiang University, Westlake University, Beihang Hangzhou Innovation Research Institute, UCAS Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, Zhejiang Robotics & Intelligent Equipment Innovation Center, and Alibaba DAMO Academy, alongside numerous dedicated research teams.

• Zhejiang University has founded a Robotics Research Institute and the Shihushan Robot Innovation Base, having developed multiple high-performance bipedal humanoid robots.

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• Westlake University has produced a string of world-class research achievements in flexible robotics and human-machine interaction.

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A mature industrial chain paired with vibrant, robust research forces creates fertile ground for Hangzhou’s humanoid robot innovation ecosystem.

Surmounting Barriers to Technology Innovation, Integrating Innovation, Industrial, Talent and Capital Chains In Depth

Humanoid robots stand at a critical inflection point transitioning from laboratory prototypes to large-scale industrialization. As the most complex robotic product category, their development still faces multiple hurdles.

Hangzhou is vigorously advancing deep integration of innovation, industrial, talent and capital chains to deliver breakthroughs in core links and key technologies. At the end of August, Yuhang District Government signed a cooperation agreement with Zhejiang University to co-build the Hangzhou Haichuang Humanoid Robot Industry Innovation Center (HRIC) for tackling core robotics technologies. The two sides plan to develop and launch no fewer than 30 robot products within five years.

“Through joint development of the HRIC, we will leverage Zhejiang University’s profound academic resources and the center’s world-class sci-tech platform to build a source of core robotic technologies, a talent magnet for high-end professionals, and an incubator for industrial growth. This will help Hangzhou cultivate a dynamic innovation ecosystem for humanoid robotics,” said Zhu Shiqiang.

In Xihu District, Wuba Intelligence plans to build China’s first dedicated pilot scale-up base for humanoid robots, offering testing, AI training and industrial conversion services for robotics enterprises and research institutions. Upon completion, the base will support simultaneous training and testing of nearly a hundred humanoid robots.

Key tasks outlined in the Plan cover breakthroughs in core “brain & cerebellum” AI technologies, advances in bionic mechanical limbs, strengthened interdisciplinary innovation capacity, enhanced product testing and pilot verification, cross-industry scenario matching, and the establishment of a special industrial fund for robotics. These benchmark targets reflect Hangzhou’s firm resolve to grow its humanoid robot industry and seize the commanding heights of global tech competition.

“Moving forward, Hangzhou will take deep integration of scientific and industrial innovation as its core development thread. Upholding innovation-driven growth, complete machine-led development, scenario-oriented application, resource agglomeration and ecosystem empowerment, we will continuously expand the humanoid robot industrial cluster to underpin Hangzhou’s modern industrial system,” the municipal development and reform official stated.

It has been 55 years since the debut of the world’s first humanoid robot in 1969, and never has the sci-fi dream of humanoid robots been closer to reality than today. In the near future, more humanoid robots “Made in Hangzhou” will enter thousands of households and empower all facets of production and daily life.