World Robot Conference 2026: 300+ companies and 150 debuts in five days

From August 19 to 23, 2026, Beijing hosted the World Robot Conference (WRC) — China's flagship robotics industry event of the year, according to industry portal robot-china.com and the event's organizers. This year's theme, "Human-Robot Symbiosis, Production-Demand Convergence," turned out to be more than a slogan: over 300 companies from China and abroad showed more than 3,000 exhibits, including over 150 debuting for the first time. Participant numbers grew 69% year over year, itself a sign of how fast the industry is accelerating.

Not just a trade show — a competition too

Running alongside the business program was the second World Humanoid Robot Games, where 2,056 machines from 16 countries competed in disciplines that would have sounded absurd next to the word "robot" just five years ago: long jump, weightlifting, table tennis. The format is far from pure spectacle — balance during a jump, grip precision on a racket, and lifting weight without losing stability are exactly the skills a robot needs on a real production floor handling heavy parts or working in a dynamic warehouse environment.

What was new on the floor

Among the debuts, Nexo from Xinghai Tuo (星海图, "Star Sea") stood out — a new-generation wheeled-arm humanoid with 30 degrees of freedom across its body and a per-arm payload of up to 20 kg. The conference also showcased LINGLOONG v2.0, described by its developers as the world's first firefighting humanoid robot, officially launched on August 18. Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) brought its own exhibit too: the Fengxing-001 humanoid for aircraft maintenance and munitions handling — an unusual example of players from outside the traditional robotics sector entering the field.

Why this is more than another trade show

According to organizers and industry media, China shipped over 40,000 humanoid robots in the first half of 2026 alone — 97% of global shipments. WRC 2026 was a showcase of where this mass of manufacturers is heading: from flashy stage demos toward concrete deployment scenarios in factories, warehouses, and emergency services. For a market where the humanoid was, until recently, more of a research prototype, thousands of production units shipped and a nearly 70% jump in exhibitor count in one year signal the industry has moved into a scaling phase.

A catalog of real Chinese robot manufacturers and their model specifications is available on the Aura Robotics site.