On November 28, as winter winds began sweeping through Shanghai, the 2025 Analyst Conference and the 7th Sina Finance "Golden Kylin" Best Analyst Awards Ceremony unfolded by the Huangpu River. Over 300 heavyweight guests from capital markets to industrial sectors gathered, but the spotlight unexpectedly shifted to an embodied robot named Zhiyuan Expedition A2—not wheeled onto the stage, but walking autonomously.
The ceremony commenced with the announcement of the best and elite analysts in the "Robotics and High-End Manufacturing" category. As lights dimmed and redirected, Zhiyuan Expedition A2 strode forward smoothly, handing a robot-shaped trophy to analyst Dai Chuan with precise, almost theatrical movements. The audience, initially murmuring, fell silent before erupting into applause and camera flashes.
Here, technology transcended demonstration—it became participation.
In a finance-centric event traditionally anchored in rationality, a robot assuming the role of "award presenter" inherently disrupted norms. The interaction that followed sparked genuine laughter—unscripted and born of delighted surprise.
Zhiyuan Expedition A2, via pre-programmed speech, quipped to Dai Chuan: *"As someone serving dual roles today—both presenter and your research subject—my CPU is overheating. How does it feel to win this award by studying me?"* The crowd reacted as if witnessing a "tech-infused emcee": not showy, but context-aware and endearing.
Dai Chuan, reflecting on his team’s decade-long focus on machinery evolving into robotics, highlighted the sector’s resilience amid macro complexities. Since 2022, AI has accelerated robotics into a capital magnet. *"This industry holds immense value,"* he noted.
The scene symbolized a paradigm shift: the researched now shared the stage with researchers. One side represented models, logic, and judgment; the other, computing power, embodied intelligence, and technical frontiers. Their coexistence on a financial platform was itself historic.
Finance and AI are now in sync. The robot’s presence wasn’t a gimmick but a signal of convergence. No longer confined to research charts or valuation variables, embodied robots are infiltrating high-stakes financial forums—a testament to the sector’s leap from "tech narrative" to real-world infiltration.
Unlike past robotics unveilings at tech-centric events, this appearance at a capital markets milestone marked a watershed: embodied intelligence is expanding from industry to societal frameworks. Robots are no longer limited to factories or labs but are entering ceremonies and collective consciousness as co-narrators of progress.
Post-dialogue, Zhiyuan Expedition A2 delivered a dance performance—lights, rhythm, and mechanical motion merging into a surreal vignette. This socialized display, more than raw tech, hinted at future scenarios for embodied AI.
An awardee later remarked, *"It’s groundbreaking. We’re tracking robotics too, hoping to deploy them in broader business contexts."* The sentiment echoed a rising receptiveness to technology—and its proactive alignment with industry.
This year’s ceremony thus etched an indelible image: a robot handing out trophies, and with them, an unspoken zeitgeist. For the Golden Kylin Awards, Zhiyuan Expedition A2’s debut wasn’t a mere easter egg—it was a statement: the future isn’t introduced; it walks onstage.
Comments