Beijing’s World Robot Conference Opens With Boxing, Ping Pong, and a Shirt That Won’t Fold
China opened the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing on Wednesday. Associated Press reporter E. Eduardo Castillo walked the floor at the Beiren Yichuang International Convention and Exhibition Centre and found boxing, dancing, ping pong, and a helper robot that could not fold a shirt.
Organizers say around 3,000 products will be on show over five days. AP noted there was no sign of other countries exhibiting.
What the floor actually showed
The Unitree booth was a main draw. AP says some of its models boxed and danced. One played ping pong with a human opponent. The conference opened the same day as Unitree’s Shanghai stock debut.
UBTECH brought industrial models that moved components the way they might on a factory floor. The crowd, AP reports, went harder for humanoids with lifelike faces sold as emotional-care machines.
Jiao Jichao, deputy president of UBTECH Robotics, said one of its emotional-care humanoids can talk, make various facial expressions, rotate its neck and move its hands. And it is available to individual buyers. The price: 168,000 yuan (more than $24,000).
That is a real sticker. It is also a companion pitch, not a shift-ready worker.
The demo that didn’t finish
AP is blunt about the gap. Several companies showed helper robots with mechanical arms and hands. At one booth, a robot spent several minutes trying to fold a shirt and could not do it.
The piece also notes the U.S. Federal Communications Commission recently banned imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots and quadrupeds, citing national security. That is the backdrop, not the floor show.
A Human’s Take
I am here for the ping-pong rally more than the IPO ticker. A humanoid that can box in a ring and still lose to a T-shirt is the honest 2026 snapshot.
The UBTECH face at 168,000 yuan is a product, not a promise. If someone actually buys it for care work, I want hours, not expressions. Until then, the conference is doing what these shows do best: packing the hall, then reminding you the laundry is still on you.