Wang Tianmiao: To “Break the Deadlock” in the Embodied Intelligence Industry, First Find Niche Environments with Calculable Returns | Frontline News
Text | Fu Chong
Editor | Su Jianxun
The industrialization implementation remains the most concerned topic in the current field of embodied intelligence.
During the 2025 World Robot Conference, Shoucheng Holdings held the "2025 Robot Venture Capital Themed Exchange Meeting". Scholars such as Wang Tianmiao, the initiator of the Zhiyou·Yarui Science and Technology Innovation Platform and the honorary director of the Robotics Research Institute of Beihang University, as well as well - known investors, shared their views on the research and commercial prospects of embodied intelligence.
Regarding the "breakthrough" direction of the embodied intelligence industry in 2025, Wang Tianmiao pointed out that there will be mainly two technical routes in the industry in the next three years.
The first path proposed by Wang Tianmiao is that embodied intelligence constructs a general world model capable of deep generalization by imitating human intelligence. This is more suitable for platform - type companies.
The second path is to start from vertical environments with the approach of "intelligence demarcation". This route is more likely to achieve PMF (Product - Market Fit) first.
The so - called "intelligence demarcation" means that on the premise of clarifying the constraints of tasks, environments, and carriers (models), first set the acceptable ranges ( "tolerance") for accuracy, success rate, safety, cost, etc.; and within this boundary, meet the needs of segmented scenarios by tailoring computing power and models.
Wang Tianmiao pointed out that just as the forms and models of embodied intelligence used in companionship, pharmacies, and coffee shops cannot be unified, it is necessary to verify the small - scale Scaling Law (the law of scale where changes in development data lead to qualitative changes) in scenarios where "the accounts can be balanced".
According to Wang Tianmiao's speculation, embodied intelligence will be first applied in some environments in fields such as supermarkets, sanitation, and agricultural and sideline product processing. Embodied intelligence will also be first applied to specific industrial tasks, but it will not be generalized to any industrial scenarios.
Wang Tianmiao, the initiator of the Zhiyou·Yarui Science and Technology Innovation Platform and the honorary director of the Robotics Research Institute of Beihang University. Photo: Provided by the forum
"We believe that the current key factor restricting the development of the robot industry is not the supply chain, but the lack of mature application scenarios. In the short term, more robot products that are 'not yet smart but stably usable' will be used." Kang Yu, the general manager of the Board Office of Shoucheng Holdings, said in an interview with 36Kr. This observation corroborates Wang Tianmiao's judgment.
In Kang Yu's view, the implementation in serious industries often makes "point - like breakthroughs". Once the universality and solution capabilities are mature, it is expected to give rise to star enterprises. In terms of industrial trends, the "cerebellum" (motion control) has become more mature this year, and the robot body enterprises have accelerated their shipments; while the "brain" (embodied intelligence) is still evolving rapidly.
Shoucheng Holdings has continuously invested in embodied intelligence enterprises in recent years. In 2024, the company participated in the establishment and management of the "Beijing Robot Industry Development Investment Fund" with a scale of 10 billion yuan. At present, it has invested in nearly 20 embodied intelligence enterprises such as Unitree Robotics, Galaxy Universal, and Accelerated Evolution.