Making Coffee, Building Cars, Patrolling Streets: Greater Bay Area Embodied Robot Industry Enters Commercial Fast Lane

In the industrial parks of Nanshan, Shenzhen, the AlphaBot robot from Zhihui Square can raise its hand, pick up items, and brew coffee—all within two minutes to produce a standard cup of coffee. At the service point in Talent Park, it serves hundreds of cups daily with zero errors. On the new energy vehicle production line on the east bank of the Pearl River, Ubtech’s Walker S bends down to tighten screws, with millimeter-level precision boosting human-robot collaboration efficiency by 40%. In Longgang’s robot R&D base, Zhongqing’s PM01 inspection robot completes its final debugging, soon to be deployed on the streets of Shenzhen to handle traffic guidance and city patrols.

Zhongqing robots at the world’s first robot fighting competition (Photo by Chen Xiachang)

From laboratory technology validation to mass production lines in factories, from commercial scene applications to active participation in urban governance, the embodied robot industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is shedding its “science fiction” label and becoming a tangible productivity tool. Recently, a Securities Times reporter found that, centered around Shenzhen, the Greater Bay Area leverages layered policy layouts, a globally unique complete industrial chain, an open scene testing ground, and a continuously expanding capital ecosystem. On the future track of embodied intelligence, it has charted a distinctive development path, not only making a crucial leap from technological “show-off” to commercial implementation but also becoming China’s core hub for capturing the global embodied robot industry high ground.

Multiple advantages support the development of the embodied robot industry in the Greater Bay Area

The embodied robot industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has achieved a critical leap from technological “show-off” to commercial deployment, becoming China’s key strategic position in the global industry. This achievement is built upon four core advantages: policy, complete industrial chain, scene application, and capital.

Policy-wise, the Greater Bay Area has formed a tiered development ecosystem, with top-level design resonating with local deployment. The “Guangdong Province Action Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of New Tracks Leading the Modern Industrial System (2026–2035)” explicitly includes intelligent humanoid robots as a forward-looking new track, aiming to break through core technologies and explore open application scenarios. Shenzhen has issued special action plans, setting quantitative goals such as cultivating more than ten billion-level enterprises by 2027. Relying on its solid industrial foundation, Shenzhen has already gathered 34 listed robotics companies and 9 unicorns. Meanwhile, different cities within the Greater Bay Area develop in a differentiated, coordinated manner: Guangzhou focuses on mass production bases, Huizhou builds intelligent training grounds, Foshan and Dongguan strengthen component bases, and Hong Kong and Macau focus on cutting-edge research. Shenzhen promotes institutional innovation to break down barriers, establishing the country’s first AI (robot) bureau in Longgang District, launching a “three-voucher” support system at the municipal level, and continuously investing nearly 1.5 billion yuan over eight years in AI special projects, forming a full-chain scientific research and development system.

A complete industrial chain and highly efficient collaboration are the industry’s core strengths. Guangdong, as a major hub for new energy vehicles and 3C electronics, has industry accumulation that provides inherent advantages for embodied robot development. Shenzhen has formed a complete industry chain covering “upstream core components—midstream complete machines—downstream scene applications.” Upstream companies have achieved technological breakthroughs and cost reductions, such as Suteng Juchuang improving visual perception accuracy and Pasini sensing technology significantly lowering tactile sensor prices. Midstream, diversified companies like Ubtech and Zhongqing have launched high-performance complete products, while Zhihui Square’s self-developed GOVLA large model ranks first globally in multiple metrics. Shenzhen also boasts “half-hour supporting circles” and “24-hour R&D and prototyping” capabilities, with product development cycles leading the world, helping companies like Zhongqing and Zhihui Square achieve rapid sales growth and capacity expansion.

Deep scene deployment and technological value transformation drive industry commercialization

Centered around Shenzhen, the Greater Bay Area is transforming the entire city into an experimental ground for embodied robots, promoting their penetration from industrial manufacturing to commercial services and urban governance. The depth of scene implementation is key to industry commercialization, creating a positive feedback loop where technology and scenes empower each other.

In industrial scenes, embodied robots serve as core deployment areas and testing grounds for technology refinement, enabling large-scale applications that feedback into technological upgrades. Ubtech’s Walker S has entered Zeekr’s smart factory, increasing production efficiency by 30%. Zhihui Square has signed a three-year order for 1,000 units with Huike, achieving flexible adaptation to industrial scenarios. Domestic robots in the 3C electronics manufacturing sector reach a sorting accuracy of 99.98%. These deployments accumulate vast real-world data, forming a closed loop of “technological breakthroughs—scene applications—data accumulation—further technological upgrades,” continuously optimizing large models and hardware.

Commercial service scenes bring embodied robots into everyday life, enabling a leap from “industrial productivity” to “service productivity.” Zhihui Square launched the world’s first modular embodied intelligent service space, “Zhi Magic Cube,” which performed well at Shenzhen Talent Park and plans to deploy over a thousand stores nationwide in cultural and tourism landmarks over the next three years. Yuejian Technology’s Atom robot has entered Shenzhen cinemas, completing popcorn production and sales, allowing consumers to experience robot services firsthand.

In public service scenarios, embodied robots become vital city governance helpers, filling social service manpower gaps. Zhongqing’s PM01 inspection robot will soon appear in Longgang, Shenzhen, assisting with traffic guidance. Longgang plans to build the country’s first friendly demonstration zone for embodied intelligent robots, deploying over 1,000 units across city patrols, elder care, and other fields. The “humanoid robot + smart elderly care” model provides diverse services for seniors, while logistics robots have tripled urban parcel processing capacity, improving city service systems.

Continuous capital support propels the industry from individual breakthroughs to cluster development. In February 2026, Zhihui Square completed over 1 billion yuan in Series B funding, with a valuation exceeding 10 billion yuan, becoming Shenzhen’s first billion-dollar unicorn in embodied intelligence. Its full-chain capabilities—technology R&D, hardware mass production, scene deployment—are favored by capital, exemplifying the mature capital ecosystem in the Greater Bay Area. Shenzhen has established a 2 billion yuan special industrial fund, with capital precisely supporting the industry chain. Companies like Leju and Zhuji Dili have completed successive financing rounds. A complete industrial cluster has formed, gathering unicorns, backbone enterprises, component suppliers, and universities and research institutes, creating a full ecosystem from R&D to application.

Facing development challenges, the Greater Bay Area aims for long-term global industry leadership

Although the embodied robot industry in the Greater Bay Area has entered a critical phase of commercialization, it still faces challenges such as core technology breakthroughs, scene standardization, and industry norms, which constrain further development. In core components, high-end planetary roller screws and high-precision sensors have less than 30% domestic localization, with some core technologies monopolized by overseas firms—this is a major weakness. In scene applications, robots’ cross-scenario adaptability needs improvement, with issues like poor adaptability and low cost-effectiveness in some fields, hindering large-scale replication. Industry standards are not yet unified in performance metrics, safety norms, and testing methods, leading to product incompatibility and restricting industry normalization.

To address these challenges, the Greater Bay Area is promoting collaborative innovation to clear obstacles. On the technological front, Guangdong has established an embodied intelligent robot innovation center, uniting universities, enterprises, and research institutes to focus on core technology breakthroughs. Shenzhen employs a “challenge-based” mechanism, offering substantial funding to encourage core component localization. In scene development, the “Robot+” initiative explores standardized scenarios in intelligent manufacturing, smart transportation, and elder care, promoting refined and customized robot products to improve scene adaptability. Industry standards are being accelerated through industry associations to develop group standards, unifying performance indicators and safety norms, laying a foundation for industry normalization.

Robotics education is entering campuses (Photo by Chen Xiachang)

Looking ahead, the embodied robot industry in the Greater Bay Area has broad prospects, moving toward more intelligent technologies, richer scenes, and a more complete ecosystem, striving to become a global hub for embodied robotics. Technologically, “human-machine integration” and “group intelligence” will be key directions, driving breakthroughs in autonomous driving and swarm robotics. Scene-wise, with increasing localization of core components and decreasing manufacturing costs, robots will further penetrate industrial, commercial, and public service fields, eventually becoming accessible intelligent terminals in homes. Ecologically, the Greater Bay Area will continue leveraging its full industrial chain advantages, attracting global innovation resources, ultimately forming an industry pattern of “R&D in Shenzhen, manufacturing in the Bay Area, application nationwide, and export worldwide.”

This industry revolution driven by embodied intelligence is deeply integrating embodied robots into the fabric of the Greater Bay Area’s development, not only reshaping manufacturing and service industries but also nurturing trillion-yuan-level industrial clusters by the South China Sea, injecting strong Bay Area power into China’s new productive forces, and providing a unique “Chinese solution” for the global embodied robot industry.