Recently, reporters from the Vibrant China Research Tour visited Tianjin to experience the rapid rise of the local robotics industry firsthand.

At Deepinfar Ocean Technology Co., Ltd., an underwater propulsion device attracted significant attention.

“Using it underwater feels like growing a pair of fins,” said General Manager Wei Jiancang.

The device can stably and efficiently enhance users’ underwater mobility. Different product series are designed for various applications, including recreational swimming and snorkeling.

These products, which help people explore underwater environments, originated from the company’s industrial robotics technologies. The company’s tethered and autonomous underwater robots have already achieved long-duration operations in deep-sea environments and have participated in major national projects such as the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

“Before entering the market, underwater robots must truly be tested in the ocean,” said Cao Menghan, Product Delivery Engineer at Deepinfar. “Tianjin Binhai New Area’s coastal location provides abundant testing conditions, allowing technologies to be validated and iterated across diverse underwater scenarios.”

In early June, Tianjin officially designated intelligent robotics as one of its 12 key industrial chains following strategic optimization and adjustment. Statistics show that during the first four months of 2026, Tianjin’s intelligent robotics industry maintained rapid growth, with output value of large-scale enterprises increasing by 12.8% year-on-year and added value growing by 17.5%.

Industrial robots serving manufacturing applications are also accelerating their development in Tianjin.

At the Tianjin Binhai–Zhongguancun Collaborative Innovation Exhibition Center, staff from ATOMROBOT demonstrated the company’s self-developed parallel robot systems.

According to the company, in industrial production scenarios involving scattered and irregularly positioned items on conveyor lines, parallel robots utilize machine vision and multi-arm coordinated planning technologies to quickly and accurately identify, pick, and handle objects, enabling high-speed sorting, precision assembly, and accurate material handling.

Mao Xuemei, Brand Operations Manager of ATOMROBOT, stated that every stage—from the development of a systematic product portfolio and in-house manufacturing of commercial controllers and other core components to the expansion into application scenarios such as new energy—relies on close collaboration and efficient coordination among local and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei industrial chain partners.

“Over the past 13 years, the company has become an industry leader in the niche field of parallel robots,” she said. “Our next focus will be space robotics and intelligent cleaning robots.”

The benefits of coordinated development across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are now reaching an increasing number of enterprises.

At Mech-Mind’s Embodied Intelligence R&D and Manufacturing Base in Tianjin, a demonstration of a humanoid robot autonomously retrieving items from shelves attracted widespread attention. Equipped with an integrated “Eye-Brain-Hand” coordination system, the robot can perceive complex real-world environments and execute a series of tasks based on human instructions.

Han Zhuo, Chief Development Officer of Mech-Mind, commented:

“Since establishing operations in Tianjin, opportunities for industry-academia-research collaboration and business partnerships have far exceeded our expectations. With support from government departments, we recently hosted an automotive and manufacturing industry event and invited upstream and downstream partners to jointly develop the local embodied intelligence ecosystem.”

The rapid growth of these technology companies reflects the broader momentum of Tianjin’s robotics industry.

As a long-established industrial city, Tianjin possesses strong foundations in automotive manufacturing, electronics, aerospace, and related sectors. The city has developed a complete industrial chain covering key components, complete machines, control systems, and application services. This industrial DNA—emphasizing practical implementation and manufacturing excellence—provides enterprises with one-stop support ranging from core components to system integration.

“As one link within the industrial chain, we benefit from policy support, funding resources, talent concentration, and industry collaboration,” said Mao Xuemei.

As China enters the opening year of its 15th Five-Year Plan period, the robotics industry is expected to play a critical role in driving high-quality development and enhancing regional economic competitiveness. With the gradual establishment of a full-chain industrial ecosystem and the continuous expansion of application scenarios, robots are increasingly entering industries, businesses, and households, injecting powerful momentum into Chinese modernization.

Xinhua Daily Telegraph Feature

Innovation Momentum Surges Across Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Through Regional Collaboration, Industrial Upgrading, and Green Transformation

Standing on the observation platform in the core area of Tianjin’s Tiankai Higher Education Innovation Park, one can see a remarkable geographic triangle:

• Over 100 kilometers northwest lies Beijing’s Zhongguancun, known as “China’s Silicon Valley.”
• Over 100 kilometers west sits Xiong’an New Area, China’s “City of the Future.”
• Just 60 kilometers east is Tianjin Port, connecting Bohai Bay to the global economy.

Together, they form a synchronized innovation ecosystem driving technological advancement across the region.

From June 15 to 18, more than 100 journalists participating in the 2026 Vibrant China Research Tour visited innovation parks, smart ports, and “lights-out factories,” experiencing firsthand how regional coordination, integration of technological and industrial innovation, and green transformation are energizing Tianjin’s development.

At Mech-Mind’s embodied intelligence production base, humanoid robots autonomously picking products from shelves showcased the company’s advanced “Eye-Brain-Hand” integrated intelligence system.

Founded by a Tsinghua University returnee team, Mech-Mind is headquartered in Xiong’an, operates its R&D center in Beijing, and established a production base in Tianjin in 2025, forming a development model of:

• Headquarters in Xiong’an
• R&D in Beijing
• Industrialization in Tianjin

“Intelligent robots are like children,” said Han Zhuo. “Reading books alone is not enough. They must gain experience in real industrial environments to become mature and practical products.”

Tiankai Higher Education Innovation Park, where Mech-Mind is located, has become a powerful magnet for innovation resources since opening in May 2023. The park has attracted 868 enterprises from Beijing and Hebei and established comprehensive government, technology, financial, business, and intellectual property service systems.

According to Tianjin Science and Technology Bureau Deputy Director Tan Zhendong, Tianjin absorbed RMB 3.94 billion worth of Beijing technology contracts during the first five months of 2026, representing a 93.8% year-on-year increase.

Integration of Technological and Industrial Innovation

In Sugon’s Tianjin headquarters showroom, computer components operate while immersed in transparent cooling liquid, reducing energy consumption by approximately 40%.

“The future challenge is not only achieving higher computing performance,” said Sugon Senior Vice President Ren Jingyang, “but also making computing power as accessible and affordable as water and electricity.”

Application-driven innovation is accelerating industrial upgrading across Tianjin.

The city currently hosts:

• 81 national-level enterprise technology centers
• 15 national industrial technology service platforms
• National manufacturing innovation centers for traditional Chinese medicine, synthetic biology, and advanced computing

Major breakthroughs include:

• Artificial synthesis of starch from carbon dioxide
• Hygon CPU chips
• CMP polishing equipment from Hwatsing Technology

To meet production demands from leading companies such as BYD, CATL, and Mengniu, ATOMROBOT operates multiple self-developed parallel robots within its manufacturing workshop in Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area.

Designed for dynamic sorting of scattered small materials, these robots achieve:

• Standard sorting speeds exceeding 100 picks per minute
• Peak performance reaching 130 picks per minute under high-speed conditions

Mao Xuemei, Brand Operations Manager of ATOMROBOT, explained:

“What appears to be a simple dynamic picking and sorting task is actually the result of multidisciplinary integration. The entire system requires highly demanding motion-control algorithms and machine vision precision, enabling dynamic object tracking, real-time trajectory optimization, and active vibration suppression during high-speed operation.”

Meanwhile, Deepinfar’s underwater laboratory showcased a dexterous five-function robotic manipulator capable of precise underwater object retrieval. Its Jiangtun tethered underwater robot has successfully overcome foreign technological bottlenecks in underwater robotic manipulation systems.

Founder Wei Jiancang noted that the company’s underwater robots have already achieved operating depths of 7,000 meters, while its next-generation Haiyi long-range autonomous underwater vehicle is expected to operate continuously for over a year and travel more than 10,000 kilometers. Consumer products have surpassed 150,000 units sold and are exported to more than 70 countries and regions.

Green Transformation Creates New Productive Forces

At Tianjin Port’s Second Container Terminal, autonomous electric trucks move efficiently throughout the terminal while smart cranes handle container operations with precision.

The terminal features:

• Three 200,000-ton-class berths
• A shoreline length of 1,100 meters
• The world’s first self-developed intelligent horizontal transportation system
• A next-generation terminal operating system
• More than 100,000 sensors

The terminal generates approximately 60 million kWh of electricity annually through wind and distributed photovoltaic power systems, achieving energy self-sufficiency while supplying surplus electricity to the grid.

Compared with conventional container terminals of similar scale, it:

• Reduces container transfer operations by 50%
• Lowers energy consumption by 17%

Tianjin’s approach demonstrates that green development is not simply about reducing energy consumption—it is increasingly becoming a catalyst for new productive forces through technological and business-model innovation.

At the China Resource Recycling Demonstration Base, colorful photovoltaic curtain walls manufactured from retired solar panels illustrate the potential of circular economy innovation.

The technology:

• Is fire-resistant and impact-resistant
• Generates electricity while serving architectural functions
• Extends the value chain of retired photovoltaic products
• Has already been deployed in cities including Beijing and Shenzhen

Meanwhile, CNOOC’s oil-spill simulation laboratory demonstrated drone-based environmental monitoring systems capable of rapidly detecting and responding to offshore oil spills through hyperspectral and infrared imaging technologies.

Like the surging waves of Bohai Bay, the tide of technological innovation continues to sweep across Tianjin and the broader Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, serving as a vivid example of China’s high-quality development and innovation-driven growth.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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