At the recently concluded 2025 World Robot Conference, a robot from Mianyang, the Youliqi robot, skillfully moved its arms to cook noodles, scoop soup, add ingredients, and season, producing a steaming bowl of authentic Mianyang rice noodles in no time.
Almost simultaneously, in a nursing home in Chengdu, the smoothly designed “Mianyang-made” humanoid robot “Kuafu-MY” was gently guiding the elderly in stretching exercises and practicing Tai Chi with precise movements.
From serving at the conference to providing warm companionship in nursing homes, Mianyang’s robots have transitioned from being “fun and visually appealing” to “practical and user-friendly,” frequently making their mark in various fields. This transformation is backed by Mianyang’s early planning and steady progress, propelling the robot industry to accelerate into a “human-machine collaboration model room.”
SeeWideRangeof Robot Applications Blooming
Recently, in the operating room of Mianyang Orthopedic Hospital, a surgical robot successfully performed a total knee arthroplasty for a patient with knee osteoarthritis. The next day, the patient was able to walk with the guidance of the doctor, providing better medical options for patients with joint diseases in the northwest region of Sichuan.
The hospital’s deputy director and chief surgeon, Zou Hong, explained that the core advantages of robot-assisted surgery lie in “precision” and “personalization,” which can reduce tissue trauma, minimize surgical incisions, decrease blood loss, and achieve a joint force line reconstruction closer to the patient’s physiological state.
Beyond medical scenarios, the visibility of Mianyang’s robot industry is continuously increasing. More and more robots are no longer cold machines but are becoming a driving force for improving urban life—
◎On the manufacturing front, the A2-W general-purpose embodied robot completed the world’s first robot “factory operation live broadcast,” achieving the transport of a 15-kilogram box in 14 seconds with zero errors over three hours;
◎In a national-level earthquake rescue drill, the 3.0 version of the emergency rescue quadruped robot from Wubai Robotics demonstrated all-terrain mobility and infrared life detection, replacing humans in dangerous situations;
◎Entering the office building, a cleaning robot is skillfully navigating the workspace, autonomously avoiding obstacles, dynamically scheduling, automatically refilling clean water, and discharging waste, steadily completing cleaning tasks…
Wubai Robotics is climbing in simulated ruins, using infrared to detect vital signs..
Behind the expanding application scenarios is the robust development of Mianyang’s robot industry chain. Mianyang is leading the way by creating benchmark demonstration scenarios, releasing 9 batches of 76 artificial intelligence application scenario lists, facilitating the implementation of over 50 scenarios such as police robot dogs and robot civil persuaders, and two cases, including “high-precision product intelligent visual inspection solutions,” have been selected as typical applications of artificial intelligence empowering new industrialization by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Mianyang has successfully been approved as a national pilot for “autonomous driving in urban travel and logistics service.”
With rapid technological advancements, the robot industry is accelerating its “intelligence” upgrade. “We need to focus on key technological breakthroughs and open scenarios while continuously strengthening policy and financial support,” said a relevant official from the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, indicating that they will effectively utilize the upcoming “Several Policy Measures to Support the Breakthrough Development of Characteristic Industries in Mianyang” to enhance connections between production and supply, technology, finance, and application scenarios, promoting prototype testing, pilot verification, iterative upgrades, and demonstration applications for robots.
The coffee robot can grind, froth, and add ice with ease.
In-depthLeap in the Entire Chain of the Robot Industry
From a single case, one can glimpse Mianyang’s “focus point” in the robot industry: at the Fulin Precision Engineering Industrial Bionic Robot Intelligent Electric Joint Pilot Center, the latest developed robotic electric joint products can be applied to humanoid robot joints such as head, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and waist, and can also be used in robotic dogs.
The joint is considered the “soul of movement” for humanoid robots, directly determining their flexibility and precision of movement. “Currently, most domestic robotic electric joint R&D companies are still in the early stages and have not achieved true large-scale production,” said Liu Jian, strategic planning manager of Fulin Precision Engineering Development Management Department, indicating that they will continue to increase R&D and production investment, striving to achieve a single-arm load breakthrough of 10 kilograms or even 20 kilograms as soon as possible.
As a major hub for the artificial intelligence industry chain in Sichuan Province, Mianyang has explicitly listed the robot industry as one of the seven new tracks in the “587” industrial system, adhering to a “circle-chain thinking” approach, continuously increasing efforts to strengthen and supplement the robot industry chain, making systematic deployments around strengthening core technology breakthroughs, and launching application support policies targeting cutting-edge industry fields and key links, facilitating the integration of production, education, research, and application.
The Fulin Precision Engineering embodied robot can handle loading and unloading tasks with ease.
The deep integration of the innovation chain and the industry chain has significantly enhanced the resilience of the chain through breakthroughs at various points—
On one hand:Mianyang has compiled and issued the “Artificial Intelligence Industry Development Plan,” establishing a panoramic view of the industry and a robot industry map, accelerating the cultivation of leading enterprises like Tianlian, attracting key upstream supporting enterprises to settle, forming a complete closed loop from core components, complete machine manufacturing, system integration to diversified application scenarios.
On the other hand:Mianyang is accelerating the construction of an embodied intelligent robot training ground, innovatively creating one innovation center, two centralized training bases, and N diversified frontline application scenarios according to the “1+2+N” model, accelerating the transition of robot products from technical verification to practical application.
The boundaries of application scenarios are continuously expanding, and Mianyang’s robot industry chain is accelerating its “evolution.” From core components and complete machine manufacturing to system integration and application scenarios, Mianyang has built a complete and superior ecological chain for the robot industry. The total output value of 79 robot companies in the city is expected to exceed 2.5 billion yuan in 2024, with a target of reaching 3 billion yuan this year.
Source: Fujiang Observation