NANJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- A striking contrast unfolds inside the factory of Kailong High-Tech Co., Ltd. in Huishan District of Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province. Automated production lines churning out diesel vehicle exhaust after-treatment systems sit alongside a high-tech lab where quadruped robots, dexterous robotic hands and AI-powered medical bots undergo continuous testing.
This vivid scene shows how a veteran environmental equipment manufacturer has moved smoothly into the cutting-edge embodied intelligence sector.
For over a decade, Kailong High-Tech has specialized in vehicle emission control, developing flagship after-treatment products that meet China's National IV to National VI emission standards and capturing nearly 20 percent of the domestic market.
Yet shifting market demand spurred its strategic shift: clients no longer merely want reliable hardware, but intelligent devices that can operate autonomously in hazardous settings to replace human labor.
Riding the artificial intelligence wave, the firm set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, Wuxi Kaiqi Embodied Intelligent Robot Technology Co., Ltd., in November 2025, launching its local robot brand HLJ Robozen to forge a path of innovation built on its existing industrial strengths.
"Many startups rush to build universal robots for all industries, but we take a different approach. We leverage our deep expertise in environmental inspection to focus on vertical scenarios, making our transition seamless," said Qu Yang, general manager of Wuxi Kaiqi Embodied Intelligence.
The company's flagship innovation is a quadruped robot designed specifically for vehicle exhaust inspections.
Conventional manual road inspections expose workers to extreme temperatures, toxic exhaust fumes and traffic risks, with a single test taking around 30 minutes. The robotic dog navigates autonomously around vehicles, adjusts its posture and positions sensors accurately at exhaust outlets, cutting testing time to under 10 minutes while eliminating occupational health hazards for inspectors.
Beyond exhaust-detecting quadruped robots, Kaiqi has addressed a critical industry bottleneck, namely the lack of high-precision testing tools for dexterous robotic hands, a key component that enables human-like fine manipulation for humanoid robots.
Its self-developed comprehensive testing device for dexterous hands outperforms international rivals on core technical metrics, and the firm is also leading the drafting of China's first industrial standard dedicated to dexterous robot hands.
"Dexterous hands involve dozens of complex performance indicators, including joint torque, response speed and repeated positioning accuracy. Traditional testing standards for industrial robots cannot match the unique technical requirements of embodied intelligence," explained Miao Fenglong, deputy general manager of Kaiqi. Unified industry standards will lower R&D and mass production costs for enterprises nationwide and accelerate the large-scale commercialization of humanoid robots.
The robot lab also houses an AI-powered TCM diagnostic robot that replicates the traditional Chinese medical "four diagnostic methods" of observation, listening, interrogation and pulse-taking. It captures facial, tongue and pulse data from users, generates physical condition assessments and wellness recommendations via a self-developed TCM large model, and supports online video consultations with hospital physicians for prescription delivery. A companion Western medical bot can simultaneously test blood pressure, blood lipids and cholesterol, bringing embodied intelligence to community public health services.
Liu Xing, technical director of Kaiqi, said the device will be deployed in residential communities across Wuxi after internal trials, with ongoing optimization based on user feedback.
Huishan District's robust manufacturing ecosystem underpins Kailong's successful cross-industry transformation. Wang Ninghai, director of Huishan District Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, said: "We have a large cluster of auto parts and high-end equipment manufacturers with decades of experience in precision machining and mechatronics. Instead of building the embodied intelligence industry from scratch, we innovate based on existing industrial foundations. Local manufacturers can transfer their original technical capabilities to enter the robot supply chain without redundant learning."
To date, Wuxi has gathered 178 enterprises along its embodied intelligence industrial chain. Multiple traditional manufacturers in Huishan have expanded into robot joints, specialized sensors and high-precision reducers, gradually forming a complete local industrial ecosystem for embodied robots. Kailong's transformation is far from an isolated case; it is a representative example of regional industrial upgrading.
Kaiqi plans to expand its testing service portfolio to cover all core components of robots, and iterate quadruped, wheeled-arm and bionic robots for industrial inspection, emergency rescue and public service scenarios, enabling robots to think like industry specialists and execute tasks like skilled frontline workers. ■
