By Shao Xiangyun, Yang Wen, Zhao Zishuo and Guo Fangda

At Hannover Messe in Germany, an inspection robot from China deftly navigates obstacles, drawing the attention of global buyers. Beside a swimming pool in Tuscany, Italy, a service provider taps a smartphone, and a pool-cleaning robot made in Tianjin begins operating fully automatically. In logistics warehouses across Europe, cost-effective Chinese dual-arm robots demonstrate remarkable dexterity, sorting and stacking packages in an orderly manner.

Looking around the world, Chinese robots are now present everywhere from everyday households to high-end manufacturing, painting a new picture of intelligent technology sailing overseas and establishing a stronger foothold in global markets. Chinese intelligent manufacturing is moving beyond the export of individual products and hardware toward a more comprehensive and multidimensional approach encompassing technology exports, solution delivery, supporting services, and joint standards development. With new products, technologies, and standards, Chinese intelligent manufacturing is writing a new chapter in the global industrial landscape.

“New Intelligent Manufacturing” Products Gain Global Traction

At the 2026 World Robot Conference held in Beijing not long ago, “going global” became one of the most frequently heard phrases across the exhibition halls. Foreign purchasing delegations from Europe, the Middle East, and other regions visited booths throughout the event, examining prototypes, asking about specifications, and exploring potential partnerships.

At the booth of Tianjin Zhiyi Times Technology Development Co., Ltd., a wheeled inspection robot demonstrated autonomous navigation, deftly completing a series of tasks including obstacle avoidance, detection, and manipulation, attracting many overseas visitors.

Chen Tao, general manager of Zhiyi Times, told reporters that the robot is equipped with three types of sensing devices that function like “eyes, ears, and a nose.” It can not only detect obstacles through sound and identify potential hazards through smell, but its dexterous hand can also perform delicate operations, making it suitable for operation, maintenance, and monitoring tasks across a variety of complex industrial scenarios.

At this year’s Hannover Messe in Germany, a global “trendsetter” for industrial technology, Tianjin’s robotics companies achieved notable results. Tianjin Langyu Robotics Co., Ltd. focuses on the R&D of heavy-duty mobile robots, with its products exported to 24 countries and regions including Germany and the United States. In the first half of this year, its overseas revenue had already reached the same level as its full-year revenue for 2025, with annual sales expected to reach RMB 250 million.

From household cleaning to high-end industrial manufacturing, and from smart lifestyle services to rehabilitation assistance, Chinese robots continue to expand their application boundaries while leveraging their competitive strengths in specialized market segments and steadily developing overseas markets.

According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China, industrial robot exports reached RMB 6.29 billion in the first half of this year, up 18.6% year on year. More than 10,000 intelligent bionic robots deeply integrated with AI technologies were exported to more than 90 countries and regions worldwide.

At the showroom of Tianjin WYBOT Technology Co., Ltd., sleekly designed pool-cleaning robots are neatly displayed. These robots have already reached more than 60 countries and regions.

“Unlike traditional robots, our fully autonomous and highly intelligent pool-cleaning robots feature the industry’s first underwater 3D mapping technology, enabling them to build a comprehensive three-dimensional map of a swimming pool and achieve autonomous, efficient navigation, ensuring that no area is left uncleaned,” said Cen Pu, deputy general manager of WYBOT Technology, while introducing the company’s latest WYBOT S3 model.

The AI-powered pool-cleaning robot quickly became in high demand in overseas markets after its launch.

“Before long, these robots will be packed into shipping containers and transported across the seas to Europe and North America, where they will serve logistics operations and industrial production,” said Wang Zhaoyu, general manager of Tianjin Tianxing Technology.

The company’s new dual-arm robot features a high degree of freedom and flexibility and can perform complex tasks including load handling, material transfer, bending, stacking, quality inspection, and assembly. With an international market price equivalent to approximately RMB 27,000, the robot is already booked through the end of this year.

The 2026 China Private Enterprise Investment and Financing Fair, scheduled to be held in Tianjin, will release the Tianjin Action Plan for Accelerating the Innovation and Application of Use Cases. According to Liang Jun, director of the Tianjin Municipal Development and Reform Commission, a special session on the coordinated development of industry and finance in the robotics sector will be held during the event. Representatives of centrally administered and state-owned enterprises will release a list of opportunities in the robotics industry, guiding more financial resources toward technological innovation and building momentum for the high-quality development of the robotics industry nationwide.

On August 6, staff members debugged an embodied intelligent robot at Tianjin Chenxing Technology Co., Ltd. (Photo by Zhao Zishuo)

From “Selling Products” to “Selling Solutions”

“This year at Hannover Messe, four of our companies exhibited together. Hall 26, where we were located, is a core exhibition area for industrial automation and logistics equipment worldwide, and our location was better than in the previous two years.”

Recalling her trip to Germany in April, Zhao Fengjiao, secretary-general of the Tianjin Robotics Industry Association, still spoke with excitement.

This marked the third consecutive year that the Tianjin Robotics Industry Association had organized companies to participate overseas as a group.

“In the past, customers would immediately ask, ‘How much does it cost?’ Now they ask, ‘How long will delivery take?’ and ‘How will after-sales service be handled?’” she said.

Price remains important, but it is no longer the only consideration. Customers are no longer simply purchasing hardware; they increasingly need complete automation solutions that include deployment, commissioning, and process adaptation.

Mao Xuemei, brand operations manager at Tianjin Chenxing Technology Co., Ltd., has experienced this change firsthand.

“In the past, our overseas business mainly focused on supplying standalone Delta robot units. Now, while we continue to provide standalone products, we are increasingly delivering complete automation upgrade solutions to overseas customers,” she said.

The shift in order structures reflects a profound transformation in China’s robotics industry—from “selling products” to “selling solutions.” The driving forces behind this momentum to go global can be found in independent innovation, a comprehensive industrial chain, and abundant application scenarios.

“Global pool-cleaning robots have long been dominated by European and American brands. We broke into the market by developing our own underwater AI and 3D mapping technologies,” Cen Pu said, adding that the company gained a strong competitive position through technological breakthroughs.

Such breakthroughs are not isolated cases. Chinese robotics companies have evolved from manufacturing standalone hardware to understanding downstream processes and developing system integration and process adaptation capabilities, enabling them to precisely meet the customized requirements of overseas customers.

Xia Qinglin, director of the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, said that Tianjin has made intelligent robots one of the city’s 12 key industrial chains and is developing the sector as an independent industrial chain. The city has established a complete ecosystem covering “upstream core components — midstream complete-machine manufacturing + flexible contract manufacturing lines — downstream system integration and application services.”

“China has all industrial categories and has established a complete industrial chain covering controllers, servomotors, reducers, sensors, and complete robot integration,” said Zhang Liyan, a doctoral supervisor at Tianjin University of Finance and Economics.

From automotive welding and warehousing and sorting to medical assistance and emergency rescue, China’s extensive industrial manufacturing system and diverse range of applications in daily life provide fertile ground for technological innovation and support the growth of companies throughout the entire industrial chain.

On August 22, visitors viewed exhibits at the 2026 World Robot Conference. (Photo by Chen Yehua)

A Test of Service, Ecosystem, and Standards Development

“We are also participating in the development of new global standards for the pool-maintenance industry. This helps offset the competitive barriers created by long-established overseas players and changes the previous situation in which Chinese companies mainly followed others in global niche markets,” said a representative of WYBOT Technology.

For companies, selling a product is only the first step. Establishing a lasting presence in overseas markets requires strong capabilities in services, ecosystem development, and standards development.

Deepinblue’s industrial-grade underwater robots have entered offshore oil and gas engineering markets in Italy, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. Its consumer-grade underwater scooters are sold in more than 70 countries and regions worldwide, with cumulative sales approaching 200,000 units.

The company has also taken the lead in developing a national standard for underwater propulsion robots and participated in the formulation of one international standard and six national standards.

Recently, its research team has been developing the “Deep Blue Intelligence” underwater simulation system, laying the foundation for data training for embodied intelligent underwater robots.

The practices of Chinese robotics companies point to a broader trend: Chinese intelligent manufacturing offers not only cost-effective hardware, but also a complete pathway toward intelligent transformation that is accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The shift from “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing” is moving Chinese intelligent robots higher up the value chain and opening a new window of opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises around the world.

“In the past, the threshold for automation upgrades was very high. Equipment was expensive and deployment cycles were long. For the large number of small and medium-sized manufacturers facing difficulties in recruiting workers and rising labor costs but operating with limited funds, intelligent transformation was once a barrier that was difficult to overcome,” Zhao Fengjiao said.

Chinese robotics companies are combining robot hardware, vision systems, fixtures, software, and process adaptation into integrated solutions.

“With shorter deployment cycles, companies can start with a single workstation or warehouse and first solve practical problems,” she said.

At the same time, many companies report that overseas expansion also presents challenges related to compliance certification and the establishment of local service networks.

For example, standards vary from country to country within the European Union, while safety certifications for products such as batteries can be complex. Industrial products also require localized after-sales service systems, which demand substantial investments in personnel and capital.

In response, many companies are establishing localized talent teams and partnership networks overseas, shifting from “selling products” toward “selling services and building ecosystems.”

WYBOT Technology has opened its cloud-based intelligent operation and maintenance platform to overseas partners, enabling them to remotely monitor sold equipment, diagnose faults, and perform firmware upgrades.

At the same time, the company’s planned industrial park will open supply-chain resources to small and medium-sized partners worldwide, enabling greater coordination across the upstream and downstream industrial chain.

Experts also noted that companies expanding overseas need to fully respect local regulations and market practices. Sustainable win-win cooperation must be built on a shared understanding of rules.

Published in Reference News, September 17, 2026, Page 8

Editor: Yang Ting