뉴스 | 🇭🇰 홍콩 | "ROBOT"

South China Morning Post

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‘Brilliant’: US public cheers dancing Unitree robots while Congress looks to ban them

A gulf is emerging between how the American public and lawmakers are viewing Chinese robots, analysts say, following a high-profile performance by Chinese robotics champion Unitree’s humanoid robots on US television show America’s Got Talent, which received a standing ovation from the studio audience. While ratings figures have yet to be announced, the appearance of Unitree’s G1 robots on a prime time American television show in its season premiere could contribute to mainstream acceptance of...

South China Morning Post

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Chinese robot helps children with nerve disorder stand up for the first time

Some people living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) have never been able to stand on their own. SMA is a genetic disorder that causes the nerves that connect the brain and muscles to deteriorate over time, making it challenging or even impossible for those affected to contract their muscles. Over time, their muscles shrink through lack of use. Depending on the severity, this condition can confine individuals to a wheelchair or leave them bedridden. It can also make eating and even breathing...

South China Morning Post

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IT/기술

A Chinese robotics start-up beat Nvidia on a global AI ranking. Is a new tech war brewing?

As artificial intelligence steps out of the digital realm and into the real world, the race to build the embodied “brains” powering next-generation robots has become the newest battleground in tech competition between China and the United States. Two days after US chip giant Nvidia launched its Cosmos 3 model – designed to help physical AI “think before it acts” – a Chinese start-up stole the spotlight. On Wednesday, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province-based Spirit AI said its foundation model for...

RTHK News (Hong Kong)

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IT/기술

'People-to-people exchanges drive HK-Kazakh ties'

People-to-people exchanges are already laying the groundwork for a different kind of Belt and Road collaboration. That's on full display in Astana as Chief Executive John Lee’s delegation wrapped up the Kazakhstan leg of his Central Asian tour with a visit to Nazarbayev University (NU) on Wednesday. Two individuals on the NU campus – a Hong Kong-born engineering professor and a local Kazakh startup founder – believe the story lies not just on a government level, but also in student exchanges, educational technology innovation and a new business corridor between Astana and Hong Kong. For the past eight years, Annie Ng, an associate professor at NU’s School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, is one of the few Hongkongers working in Kazakh academia. Ng said the chief executive’s visit is a long-overdue catalyst. “I think this is a very good start. I believe there will be more MoUs and more collaborations with different university institutes in Hong Kong with NU and Kazakhstan – not just for research, but also other education programmes or short courses,” she said. Ng sees Kazakhstan as a pivotal player under the Belt and Road framework, but notes a gap in Hong Kong’s engagement compared with the mainland. While there has been a growing number of mainland tourists and entrepreneurs in Almaty and Astana, she said Hongkongers remain conspicuously absent and should explore opportunities in Kazakhstan. “Young people will be more interested here and explore something new – not a typical country to visit. Kazakhstan, Central Asia, we are also close to other Central Asian countries,” she said. For Hong Kong businesses, she said, the potential is tangible. “A lot of things are developed in Hong Kong but not here. They can find a lot of room to expand their business.” Nurken Bolatov is chief operational officer of Artisan Education, a startup based on the NU campus that produces engineering kits and a web-platform for learning robotics, programming and STEM. Bolatov’s company has already been accepted into the ideation programme at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP). “For us, I hope it’s a great opportunity and experience to try our products in another region, with other students, and get some more feedback,” he said. But his ambitions for Hong Kong go beyond market testing. He sees the city as a manufacturing gateway. “There are a lot of manufacturers in Hong Kong and in China, so probably it would be great for us to cooperate with them so we can produce a lot more of our products.” He also hopes to tap into Hong Kong’s talent pool. “As I know, there are a lot of strong universities in China and in Hong Kong. Probably it would be helpful to find some potential team members to get into our project.” His startup is already piloting its products in several countries, including South Korea, Türkiye and the UK. Edited by Edmond Fong

South China Morning Post

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How foreign investors should view China’s ‘little giants’ scheme

The surge of interest in Chinese humanoid robotics has raised a practical question for investors, corporate strategists and supply chain executives: who makes the parts? Reduction gears. Torque sensors. Precision bearings. Industrial software. The further one traces the supply chain, the more often the answer leads to companies that are not household names or well understood by foreign investors. Many carry a designation that deserves closer attention: “little giant”. China began cultivating...

South China Morning Post

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산업/기업

Unitree clears key hurdle to Shanghai IPO as China’s humanoid robot wave gathers pace

Unitree Robotics, one of the leading forces in mainland China’s booming humanoid robot sector, has cleared a major hurdle for its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) after passing a listing committee hearing on Monday. The Hangzhou-based company filed to list on Shanghai’s Star Market on March 20. Following two rounds of regulatory inquiries and an on-site inspection, the hearing approval opens the door for the IPO to proceed to registration and issuance. Unitree said it aimed to...

South China Morning Post

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IT/기술

Nvidia, Unitree and Sharpa unite to design humanoid robot that can perform ‘real work’

Nvidia has partnered with Chinese robotics champion Unitree Robotics and Singapore robotic hand maker Sharpa to release a new humanoid robot reference design to accelerate innovation in the global humanoid industry, the US chip giant’s CEO, Jensen Huang, announced on Monday. The new design, called H2+, will support industry-wide humanoid robotics research by streamlining the full development workflow for developers, including data collection, policy training and real-world deployment. “For...

RTHK News (Hong Kong)

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Robots take dispensing load at community health centre

The Hospital Authority has said its smart warehouse management system which uses automated robots has successfully streamlined the handling of medicine, freeing up pharmacists to focus on patient care. The system was implemented in late 2024 at the North District Community Health Centre, where robots carry designated drug shelves to workstations at the centre's warehouse to replenish drugs. This means pharmacists no longer need to search for and transport drugs. The authority's chief pharmacist William Chui pointed out that the time required for retrieving medicine has decreased from 20 minutes to only a few minutes. "If the pharmacists engage in the storage of the drugs, or other [logistical] or technical operations, they would spend less time on patients directly, so that's why we introduced this smart warehouse management system," Chui said. "It can provide more time for pharmacists, healthcare professionals or dispensers to take care of our patients. "The second benefit of introducing this new smart system is to ensure or enhance the medication system, and also for increasing the storage space by 20 percent," he added. Betty Leung, the pharmacy department manager at the North District Hospital – which also uses some of the medicine from the North District Community Health Centre – explained that the system has eliminated the need to reserve space for trolleys used for carrying medicine, increasing storage capacity. She also pointed out that there is a backup plan if the system fails. "We can call for a 24-hour support, and worse comes to worst, we can revert to our old mechanism of having staff going into the drug store to get the drugs." She added that the system also monitors the medicine inventory in real time, which would ensure no drugs would be used past their expiry date. Leung also said there are plans to expand the use of the smart warehouse management system. "In [health facilities that will be redeveloped], or new hospitals, new clinics, we can deploy this warehouse system to enhance the service." Edited by Aaron Tam

RTHK News (Hong Kong)

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Development chief points to greater use of drones

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn said on Sunday that the government is planning to introduce high-performance drones to boost efficiency and safety in public works and emergency response. These would include models capable of carrying heavy loads and equipped with robotic arms. "With their high mobility and ability to quickly gather information from high altitudes, drones play a role in various fields and application scenarios, including aerial surveillance, disaster relief and patrol support," she wrote on her blog. "Now, drones can be combined with artificial intelligence for in-depth analysis, further enhancing departmental efficiency." She said the government is exploring broader drone applications, such as transporting building material and tools at construction sites and infrastructure projects. Linn also suggested the use of drones for slope maintenance, where they could send repair supplies to hard-to-reach areas. The development chief added that drones have overcome physical barriers and captured high-definition images of remote areas, as well as illegal rooftop structures and illegal building renovation works. The initiative is tied to the government's "Regulatory Sandbox X" under the low-altitude economy framework. In April, four pilot projects involving non-traditional aircraft were selected for phased testing, including a Development Bureau project in collaboration with industry players focused on aerial lifting operations. Linn said the authorities are also studying the use of drones for routine maintenance of infrastructures such as dams, reservoirs and surrounding slopes. She also noted that field trials are expected to begin soon. Edited by Edmond Fong

South China Morning Post

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Unicorn born in record time amid ‘arms race’ among China’s robotic hand developers

Venture capitalists and industrial giants in China are aggressively backing developers of dexterous robotic hands – the toughest bottleneck in the global humanoid hardware arms race – in a funding blitz that is rapidly driving up start-up valuations. The latest capital injection was announced on Friday by Xynova. The Hangzhou-based start-up said it had completed a series A round from investors including the venture arms of smartphone maker Xiaomi and electric vehicle giant Li Auto, bringing...

South China Morning Post

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IT/기술

Alibaba, Tencent lead pivot from chatbots to embodied AI for robotics

Chinese tech companies are racing to deploy artificial intelligence models into robots, shifting the battleground for generative AI from digital chatbots to physical autonomous systems. Alibaba Group Holding’s Qwen3.7-Max model, launched last week, features “tool-calling” capabilities that allow the AI model to act as a digital brain to trigger external software and hardware components. The company said the model could be used to control robots by orchestrating physical actions like navigation,...

South China Morning Post

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산업/기업

Unitree Robotics reports plunge in first-quarter profits days before crucial IPO hearing

Unitree Robotics, a luminary in China’s humanoid robot boom, has reported a sharp plunge in first-quarter profits just days before its crucial listing hearing, casting a shadow over its Star Market initial public offering (IPO) as soaring expenses and a brutal price war catch up to the industry’s hype. The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s listing committee is scheduled to review Unitree’s IPO application on June 1, according to an exchange notice on Monday. The company, based in Hangzhou, the capital...

South China Morning Post

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IT/기술

China ‘crazy boss’ shares AI images of him in women’s outfits, aims to become world’s richest

The founder of a fast-rising Chinese tech firm has become known as China’s “crazy boss” after a string of online stunts. Yu Hao, 39, from Jiangsu province in eastern China, is the founder and CEO of Dreame Technology, a smart home appliance maker best known for high-end robot vacuum cleaners. Founded in 2017, Dreame has grown rapidly in China’s crowded smart appliance sector. Public records show the company was once valued at about 45 billion yuan (US$6.6 billion) and it is reportedly aiming for...

South China Morning Post

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IT/기술

China to give every humanoid robot a digital ID in push to boost industry standards

China is looking to give every humanoid manufactured in the country a digital identity, as it seeks promote growth in the rapidly growing sector through establishing industry standards and strengthening regulation. The country launched a national initiative on Friday, dubbed the Humanoid Full Lifecycle Management Service Platform, to assign human-shaped and artificial intelligence-driven bipedal robots unique codes. The numbers will then be used to track the robots throughout their lifecycle,...

South China Morning Post

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기타

Ancient Chinese texts depict ‘immortal mirror’ akin to CT scan – an early notion of robots

Ancient China dreamed of future technology long before the modern age, conjuring visions of magic mirrors, ingenious machines and even lifelike wooden puppets. In the Tang dynasty (618–907) text Duyang Miscellaneous Records, a mysterious stone called the “immortal mirror” appears as a precursor to the CT scan. Found in the southwest of an unnamed land, the polished stone was said to span hundreds of kilometres. Passers-by could look into it like a mirror, but instead of reflecting their faces,...

뉴스

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‘Brilliant’: US public cheers dancing Unitree robots while Congress looks to ban them

Chinese robot helps children with nerve disorder stand up for the first time

A Chinese robotics start-up beat Nvidia on a global AI ranking. Is a new tech war brewing?

'People-to-people exchanges drive HK-Kazakh ties'

How foreign investors should view China’s ‘little giants’ scheme

Unitree clears key hurdle to Shanghai IPO as China’s humanoid robot wave gathers pace

Nvidia, Unitree and Sharpa unite to design humanoid robot that can perform ‘real work’

Robots take dispensing load at community health centre

Development chief points to greater use of drones

Unicorn born in record time amid ‘arms race’ among China’s robotic hand developers

Alibaba, Tencent lead pivot from chatbots to embodied AI for robotics

Unitree Robotics reports plunge in first-quarter profits days before crucial IPO hearing

China ‘crazy boss’ shares AI images of him in women’s outfits, aims to become world’s richest

China to give every humanoid robot a digital ID in push to boost industry standards

Ancient Chinese texts depict ‘immortal mirror’ akin to CT scan – an early notion of robots