BEIJING — It was not even close as a bright red Chinese humanoid named “Lightning” lived up to its name in a half-marathon pitting humans against robots, smoking its competition on Sunday

Chinese startups are churning out more humanoid robots than their U.S. rivals, despite far lower valuations.

China has sharply reduced its AI performance gap with the US while launching its first claimed mass-produced humanoid robot for home use. The Stanford AI Index shows China’s top model now trails the US leader by just 39 Arena points, alongside continued ...

China’s Hefei metro is testing robot dogs, drones, and humanoids to inspect trains, patrol platforms, and assist passengers during busy travel periods.

Backed by Alibaba, ByteDance, Xiaomi, and Meituan, X Square is already moving toward real-world testing. The company said it plans to deploy Wall-B systems in everyday homes within 35 days, an aggressive timeline that reflects growing pressure to demonstrate real utility.