BOAO, Hainan, March 27 (Xinhua) -- At the 2026 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), a stage no stranger to influential politicians and business leaders, humanoid robots are stealing the spotlight with heated discussion on their game-changing impact on other sectors.
Amid the array of sub-forums dazzling eager audiences and BFA participants from all walks of life, a session focusing on the advancements of humanoid robotics garnered much attention, featuring what may have been among the first non-biological "guests" in the renowned forum's quarter-century history.
One of the noteworthy robotic guests is Tiangong 3.0. With a sleek, streamlined design and a polished, futuristic appearance, the two-legged humanoid robot, standing about 1.69 meters tall and weighing 62 kg, was developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center.
The model has gained wider recognition through the performance of its advanced variant. On April 19, 2025, Tiangong Ultra, also developed by the same center, won the world's first humanoid-robot half-marathon in Beijing, underscoring rapid progress in the field.
"The 'cerebrum' and 'cerebellum' of robots are evolving in tandem," said Xiong Youjun, CEO of the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, at the session, noting significant gains in motion control alongside rapid advances in robotic cognitive intelligence.
On the industrial side, Xiong noted that the localization and scaling up of core components for humanoid robots are gathering pace. "Closer coordination across the supply chain is helping shorten development and manufacturing cycles, while lowering barriers to entry and application costs."
Participants at the session echoed Xiong's observations, noting that China is at the forefront of the humanoid robotics sector, backed by a robust supply chain, diverse application scenarios, and a series of technological breakthroughs.
Data backs up the momentum. In November 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, said that China is now home to more than 150 humanoid robot companies, and the sector is expanding at an annual rate of over 50 percent, with the market scale expected to reach 100 billion yuan (about 14.46 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030.
A Morgan Stanley research report from 2025 stated that China has recorded 7,705 humanoid patents over the past five years -- five times as many as the U.S. -- and accounted for 54 percent of global industrial robot installations.
"A key question for the industry now is when humanoid robots can move from eye-catching demonstrations to large-scale, real-world deployment," said Chen Jianyu at the session, founder of Beijing-based robot maker Robotera.
In 2025, Wang Xingxing, founder and CEO of Unitree, likened the current state of the humanoid robot industry to the period one to three years before the release of ChatGPT.
The direction is clear, Wang noted, but the critical breakthrough has yet to arrive. "The 'ChatGPT moment' for humanoid robots, when they will truly enter workplaces and homes, still requires some time," Wang said, adding that global robotics firms and research institutions are exploring diverse approaches and are now on the cusp of breakthroughs.
However, at the session, on the much-anticipated "ChatGPT moment," many struck a more cautious tone.
Xiong argued that such a breakthrough is unlikely to arrive as a sudden leap, but rather as a gradual process shaped by the deep convergence of technological maturity, commercial viability, and real-world demand.
"Humanoid robots are rapidly moving beyond showcase performances toward real-world utility," he said, adding that their most meaningful near-term applications will lie in replacing humans in hazardous and harsh environments, rather than merely handling simple repetitive tasks.
Shen Dou, the executive vice president of Baidu, argued that there may be no "ChatGPT moment" for humanoid robots. "Embodied intelligence interacts with the natural world and continuously refines its behavior. In its development, it unfolds incrementally, step by step."
Still, optimism persists. Wang Xiaogang, chairman of Ace Robotics, estimated it would take roughly two more years for humanoid robotics to see the "ChatGPT moment."
His projection is based on a leap in data volume. The industry currently has around 100,000 hours of accumulated data, and with last year's introduction of new approaches, the goal is to expand this to 10 million hours within two years.
Based on the advancing technology, he expected the total data volume could reach hundreds of millions of hours. "Once the data surpasses this threshold, the industry will truly enter its 'ChatGPT moment,'" he said.
At the session, another non-human guest, ViviDora, a Baidu AI Cloud's digital human, also provides a positive voice.
"The future will be an era of humans, robots, and digital human beings working together in harmony. The true role of robots is to ease human burdens, so people can focus on more meaningful, heartfelt work," ViviDora said. ■
