- China aims for global leadership in AI and humanoid robotics.
Humanoid Robot: China’s leading e-commerce company JD.com has made a big announcement saying that it is going to organize the world’s first humanoid robot auction during its annual 618 Shopping Festival. The company revealed this plan at the 618 Shopping Festival launch event of 2026.
According to the company, this auction will not be just a technical demonstration but will be a part of the special offers and promotional activities that will be run during the entire shopping festival. It is believed that tech companies, research institutes and robot collectors can show great interest in this event as they can get early access to the next generation humanoid robots. However, the company has not yet told which robot models will be included in the auction.
Preparation to deploy millions of robots in the next 5 years
JD.com said on Monday that it is preparing to adopt robotics technology on a large scale in the coming five years. The company plans to deploy about 30 lakh robots, 10 lakh autonomous vehicles and 1 lakh drones.
Along with this, JD Retail aims to achieve a business of more than $1.47 billion from robot brands by 2026. The company also wants to reduce the time to launch new products by about 30 percent.
Robotics platform will be connected to millions of devices
Dai Wenjun, head of JD’s JoyInside robotics platform, said that this year this platform will be connected to more than 10 million terminal devices. Many big companies in the robotics sector like Unitree Robotics and Noetix Robotics have already integrated with this platform. This clearly indicates that China wants to rapidly introduce robotics and AI technology into everyday life.
Humanoid robots will also be seen in factories
China does not want to be limited to just bringing robots among the people but is also preparing to use them in factories. The Shanghai administration has announced that it will accelerate the real-world deployment of AI and humanoid robots. According to Tang Wenquan, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the target is to install 1 lakh humanoid robots in the city’s factories by the end of China’s 15th five-year plan, which runs between 2026 and 2030.
Apart from this, a plan has also been made to increase the use of AI agents to more than 80 percent in large industrial enterprises. This will be part of the AI Plus campaign which aims to make industries smart and automated.
Robots came out of the lab and reached the market.
Pan Helin, member of the expert committee of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that earlier humanoid robots were limited only to labs and demos, but now their use is increasing rapidly in areas like retail, logistics, manufacturing, healthcare and public service.
He believes that such an auction can create a new business model for robot manufacturing companies. Also, people will start seeing humanoid robots not just as a fantasy of the future but as a useful everyday tool.
The race to get ahead in AI and robotics
This announcement shows that Chinese companies are rapidly moving forward in the race to achieve global leadership in the field of embodied AI and humanoid robotics. Companies around the world are working on how in the future robots can help humans in warehouses, factories, customer service, hospitals and even in homes.
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