The Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Real-World Training Challenge has been officially scheduled, with the main competition set to take place from December 4 to 6, 2026, at the Ma'anshan Sports and Exhibition Center.
At a press conference held on the afternoon of November 2, Yi Maolin, Member of the Standing Committee of the Ma'anshan Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, along with Liang Liang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, and other officials attended and announced the overall arrangements and competition plan for the event.
The challenge is jointly hosted by the Ma'anshan Municipal People's Government, the Chinese Institute of Electronics, and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, adopting a two-stage format consisting of a "test competition" and a "challenge competition."
The test competition is planned to run from November 16 to December 3, 2026, with relevant events taking place at local industrial manufacturing enterprises, logistics companies, hotels, supermarkets, and communities in Ma'anshan, conducting real-world testing in actual working environments.
The challenge competition is scheduled from December 4 to 6, 2026, at the Ma'anshan Sports and Exhibition Center. Concurrently, activities such as the "Deep Dive" on AI Empowering New Industrialization (Ma'anshan Station) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Standardization Committee Enterprise Symposium will be held to promote technical exchange, supply-demand matching, and industrial collaboration.
The competition features 13 events across 5 major scenarios: "Embodied Intelligence + Logistics, Manufacturing, Service, Safety, and Culture & Sports." The "examination room" is brought into manufacturing enterprises, logistics companies, hotels, communities, and commercial supermarkets in Ma'anshan, testing technology and product maturity through real tasks, real environments, and real working conditions, accumulating high-quality real-machine data and industry implementation experience, and promoting effective matching between innovation outcomes and application needs — "promoting research through competition, promoting production through competition, and promoting application through competition."
For example, the "Embodied Intelligence + Logistics" scenario includes two events: the Logistics Sorting Challenge and the Express Delivery Challenge. Through tasks such as package identification and grasping, sorting and placement, and autonomous navigation, these events test robots' continuous operation capabilities in complex warehousing and community environments.
The "Embodied Intelligence + Manufacturing" scenario includes three events: the Material Handling and Loading/Unloading Challenge, the Precision Assembly Challenge, and the Tug-of-War and Load-Bearing Challenge. Centered on tasks such as production loading and unloading, 3C product assembly, and weighted transport, these events focus on examining robots' mobility and operational coordination, millimeter-level precision insertion, flexible force control, and load-bearing operation capabilities.
The "Embodied Intelligence + Service" scenario includes three events: the Hotel Cleaning Challenge, the Hotel Folding Challenge, and the Supermarket Restocking Challenge. Around tasks such as room cleaning, linen folding, and product shelving, these events test robots' multi-task planning, flexible object manipulation, and fine operation capabilities in unstructured environments.
Currently, the registration channel for the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Real-World Training Challenge is open, with registration closing on November 27, 2026. Enterprises, universities, research institutes, and other units in the humanoid robot and embodied intelligence field may form their own teams or joint teams to participate. The competition will also provide participating teams with opportunities for technical and cooperative matchmaking.
Liang Liang stated that humanoid robot and embodied intelligence technologies are accelerating their evolution, and industry development is entering an important window period for large-scale application. The industry is shifting from focusing on technology and the supply side to "targeting scenarios and solving problems." The industry's focus has shifted from "jumping on stage and running on the field" to "working in factories and being used in supermarkets." As mass production and deployment accelerate, how to enable robots to understand real environments and complete real tasks more safely and reliably has become an important topic in promoting coordinated development of technology and industry.
This challenge adheres to application-driven principles, is grounded in the current development characteristics of the industry, and comprehensively considers technical capabilities, scenario conditions, and actual needs. It features 13 events across 5 major scenarios: "Embodied Intelligence + Logistics, Manufacturing, Service, Safety, and Culture & Sports."
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