Real-scenario practical training drives application implementation, and competition-driven production empowers industrial development — the press conference for the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Real-scenario Practical Training Challenge was held in Beijing.
On November 2, the press conference of the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Real-scenario Practical Training Challenge was held in Beijing, releasing the overall event arrangement and competition plan, and issuing the team recruitment notice. Yi Maolin, Member of the Standing Committee of Ma'anshan Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, Liang Liang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, Wu Bin, Secretary-General of Ma'anshan Municipal Government, and Teng Qing, Director of Ma'anshan Bureau of Industry and Information Technology attended the press conference.
Liang Liang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, delivered a speech
Liang Liang stated that the technology of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence is evolving at an accelerated pace, and industrial development is entering an important window period for large-scale application. The focus of industrial development has gradually shifted from technology and supply-side promotion to "targeting scenarios and solving problems". The focus of the industry has shifted from "jumping on the stage and running on the competition field" to "working in factories and being applied in supermarkets". While mass production and implementation are accelerating, how to enable robots to understand the real environment and complete real tasks in a safer and more reliable way has become a key topic to promote the coordinated development of technology and industry. To implement the national deployment on the innovative development of the humanoid robot and embodied intelligence industry, and respond to the 2026 special action for real-scenario practical training of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence jointly carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Real-scenario Practical Training Challenge is co-hosted by Ma'anshan Municipal People's Government, the Chinese Institute of Electronics, and the World Robot Cooperation Organization. Adhering to application orientation, based on the development characteristics of the current industrial stage, the challenge comprehensively considers technical capabilities, scenario conditions and actual needs, and sets 13 competition events around the 5 major scenarios of "embodied intelligence + logistics, manufacturing, services, safety, culture and sports". It moves the "examination room" into production and living scenarios such as manufacturing enterprises, logistics enterprises, hotels, communities and supermarkets in Ma'anshan. Through real tasks, real environment and real working conditions, it tests the maturity of technologies and products, accumulates high-quality real machine data and industry implementation experience, promotes the effective connection between innovative achievements and application demands, and realizes "promoting research, production and application through competitions", injecting new impetus into the high-quality development of the humanoid robot and embodied intelligence industry.
Yi Maolin, Member of the Standing Committee of Ma'anshan Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, delivered a speech
Yi Maolin stated that Ma'anshan has an industrial cluster of initial scale, with more than 100 enterprises in the city's artificial intelligence and robot industrial chains. It has been approved to build the future industrial pilot zone for artificial intelligence vision large models in Anhui Province, and strives to build the artificial intelligence and robot industry into a 10-billion-yuan strategic industrial cluster during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. It has a powerful and efficient computing power base, has built the Ma'anshan Embodied Robot Innovation Center, forming an annual supply capacity of 500,000 hours of high-quality real machine data, with the online computing power scale exceeding 1600P, building a high-quality computing power supply system. It has rich and diverse application scenarios, and has sorted out more than 190 robot application demonstration scenarios with promotion value, covering 7 fields including industrial manufacturing, logistics distribution, life services, and public safety. On this basis, Ma'anshan will focus on "real-scenario practical training" and run this challenge well from four aspects: adhere to demand orientation, go deep into key industrial enterprises, logistics parks, supermarkets and hotels to collect front-line demands, so that the competition events can connect with the actual difficulties in production and life; adhere to practical test, open real operating environments such as production workshops, hotel rooms, and supermarket aisles, not afraid of "making mistakes" and "showing flaws", to provide real-scenario verification conditions for participating robots; adhere to characteristic integration, integrate the characteristics of the steel industry, the tug-of-war sports culture and the cultural heritage of the poetry city into the competition, showing the urban characteristics of the integration of technology, industry and culture; adhere to achievement transformation, carry out industrial exchanges, scenario list release and supply-demand docking simultaneously, to provide services such as computing power support, scenario opening and industrial support for excellent teams and settled enterprises, and promote the implementation and development of competition achievements in Ma'anshan.
Wu Bin, Secretary-General of Ma'anshan Municipal Government, delivered a speech
Wu Bin stated that the Ma'anshan Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have coordinated all forces to promote the preparation of the event. First, build an efficient and collaborative organization system, set up the organizing committee, establish a cross-departmental collaborative linkage mechanism, and the organizing committee and all working groups have entered substantive operation. Second, create a professional and standardized competition environment, do a good job in support work in the express logistics centers, residential communities, hotels and other places involved in the test competition, provide a stable and reliable real-scenario test environment, speed up the renovation of the Ma'anshan Sports and Exhibition Center venue, and scientifically divide functional areas such as competition area, spectator area and debugging area to ensure that the competition requirements and viewing demands are met. Third, provide meticulous and warm logistics services, open special shuttle bus lines to provide "point-to-point" pick-up services for participating teams; set up a volunteer service team composed of college student volunteers and professional service personnel to provide guidance and consultation services for participating teams and audiences; formulate a complete security plan and emergency plan to fully maintain safety and stability during the event. Fourth, create a strong and enthusiastic event atmosphere, organize media interview activities, invite media to go deep into the front line of the competition venue, and feel the charm of humanoid robot and embodied intelligence technology and the vitality of Ma'anshan's industrial development at close range.
Teng Qing, Director of Ma'anshan Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, delivered a speech
Teng Qing stated that Ma'anshan adheres to digital intelligence empowerment to promote the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. The digital transformation rate of industrial enterprises above designated size in the city reaches 99%, and the numerical control rate of key processes reaches 75%. A total of 2 national-level intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories, 6 excellent scenarios, and 7 national-level 5G factories have been built. The production lines of key industries such as steel and equipment manufacturing have completed digital interface transformation, which can provide real working conditions for embodied intelligence teams to carry out technical verification and algorithm iteration. In the next step, Ma'anshan will closely follow the main line of "event setting up stage, industry boosting momentum, talents taking root". First, open up full-domain scenarios to create a "real-scenario examination room", further release high-value scenarios such as steel smelting, auto parts assembly, and warehousing logistics, to promote the formation of a closed loop of "scenario driving - data precipitation - product optimization". Second, strengthen chain-based investment attraction to cultivate industrial clusters, introduce enterprises in key links such as embodied intelligence ontology manufacturing, core components, and vertical large models, reduce the implementation cost of start-up enterprises, and promote the formation of a complete ecosystem from R&D and design to complete machine manufacturing. Third, cultivate fertile ground for talents to stimulate innovation vitality, deepen cooperation with universities and scientific research institutes, jointly build embodied intelligence joint laboratories and pilot test bases, so that embodied intelligence can move from "concept verification" to "normal operation" in Ma'anshan.
The Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Real-scenario Practical Training Challenge is co-hosted by Ma'anshan Municipal People's Government, the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, adopting a two-stage competition system of "test competition + challenge competition". The test competition is scheduled to be held from November 16 to December 3, 2026. Relevant competition events will enter local industrial manufacturing enterprises, logistics enterprises, hotels, supermarkets and communities in Ma'anshan to carry out real-scenario test competitions in the real working environment. The challenge competition is scheduled to be held at Ma'anshan Sports and Exhibition Center from December 4 to 6, 2026. In the same period, activities such as the "In-depth Tour" of artificial intelligence enabling new industrialization (Ma'anshan Station) and the enterprise symposium of the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Standardization Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will also be held to promote technical exchanges, supply-demand docking and industrial collaboration.
This competition sets 13 competition events around the 5 major scenarios of "embodied intelligence + logistics, manufacturing, services, safety, culture and sports". In the "embodied intelligence + logistics" scenario, two events are set up: logistics sorting challenge and express delivery challenge, which test the continuous operation ability of robots in complex warehousing and community environments through tasks such as package identification and grasping, sorting and delivery, and autonomous navigation. In the "embodied intelligence + manufacturing" scenario, three events are set up: material handling and loading/unloading challenge, precision assembly challenge, tug-of-war and load-carrying challenge. Focusing on tasks such as production loading and unloading, 3C product assembly and load-carrying transportation, it focuses on investigating the capabilities of robots in movement and operation coordination, millimeter-level precision insertion and assembly, flexible force perception control and load operation. In the "embodied intelligence + service" scenario, three events are set up: hotel cleaning challenge, hotel object stacking challenge, and supermarket restocking challenge. Focusing on tasks such as guest room cleaning, linen folding and commodity shelf loading, it tests the multi-task planning, flexible object operation and fine operation capabilities of robots in unstructured environments. In the "embodied intelligence + safety" scenario, the emergency rescue challenge is set up, which tests the capabilities of environmental perception, obstacle-surmounting navigation and autonomous task switching under complex conditions through tasks such as broken bridge passage, ruins breakout, pipe gallery inspection and wading risk elimination. In the "embodied intelligence + culture and sports" scenario, four events are set up: table tennis human-machine challenge, badminton human-machine challenge, mixed martial arts challenge, and poetry creation challenge, which show the real-time decision-making, motion control and multi-modal interaction capabilities of robots in sports competition, human-machine interaction and cultural expression.
The registration channel for the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Real-scenario Practical Training Challenge has been officially opened, and the registration deadline is November 27, 2026. Enterprises, universities, scientific research institutes and other entities in the field of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence can form teams on their own or jointly to participate in the competition. The competition will also provide technical and cooperation docking opportunities for participating teams.
Real-scenario practical training promotes application implementation, and promoting production through competitions empowers industrial development. The competition will gather innovative forces from all parties in the industrial chain, deepen the connection between technology R&D and application demands, allow more new technologies to receive real tests in Ma'anshan, and promote more excellent achievements to enter a broader application market.