THE World Robot Conference opened in Beijing today, showcasing China’s growing lead in robotics.

The annual conference is open to international exhibitors, but dominated by Chinese manufacturers. Over 300 companies are taking part this year — a rise of over a third on 2025 — and for the first time a dedicated public-sector zone reserved for state-owned enterprises will showcase their new robots.

China already operates more industrial robots than all other countries combined, and builds more new ones each year than the rest of the world put together too.

But it is also advancing in humanoid robot technologies.

Smart Analytics Global reported this month that shipments of humanoid robots almost quadrupled in the first half of this year, to 19,100 units. China dominates the industry, building 97 per cent of all shipped humanoid robots and accounting for 85 per cent of global demand.

Chinese robotics have advanced rapidly thanks to state and state-directed private-sector lending under President Xi Jinping’s Made in China 2025 programme, which aimed to reduce China’s reliance on foreign technology.

Chinese courts have established that companies cannot use automation or use of artificial intelligence to sack workers or cut their pay, instead being obliged to offer retraining, redeployment or compensation. A Hangzhou court ruled in spring in favour of a worker who had been offered a new role on a 40 per cent pay cut after his job was taken over by AI and was sacked when he refused, and similar rulings have been reached in Beijing.

Confidence in labour protections and a rapidly growing economy are cited as reasons that opinion polls in China show majorities favour increased use of AI, in contrast to the West. An Edelman poll last November found 87 per cent of Chinese trust AI, compared to 36 per cent of British people, while 54 per cent want to see its use grow, compared to 17 per cent of US citizens.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued policy detailing assistance to firms in adopting AI without loss of jobs including through interdisciplinary training and help for students and graduates.