The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2026) opened in Shanghai on July 17 and runs through July 20, and this year the show floor belonged to robots. A wave of Chinese startups and tech giants used the event to debut hardware and AI platforms aimed at the fast-growing market for humanoid and industrial machines.
The standout novelty came from Shanghai-based Run Robotics. According to the Global Times, the company unveiled what it calls the world's first "centaur" robot — a wheel-leg hybrid design — and said 95% of its core components are made domestically in China.
Others pushed the software side of robotics. Per Yahoo Finance and Morningstar, BrainCo debuted what it describes as the world's first integrated brain-to-robot AI research-and-development platform. Matrix Robotics showcased its MATRIX-3 robot, announced an upgrade to its WAVE "physical world" foundation model, and launched a Global Partner Program, according to a Media OutReach newswire release.
Established players joined in too. Gasgoo reported that Mech-Mind Robotics demonstrated multi-robot humanoid collaboration, while China Daily covered Ace Robotics touting its AI achievements. The biggest name present was Tencent, which unveiled a full-stack robotics solution and launched its WorkBuddy app as a standalone product across three platforms; finance.biggo.com noted Tencent shares rose more than 3% intraday.
Why it matters: The cluster of debuts underscores how China is racing to build a homegrown robotics industry — from novel hardware to the AI "foundation models" that control it — and how quickly that push is moving from lab demos toward commercial products.