Robot "Gardener" starts work in Beijing to create a unique industry pathway of "Events + Orders"

As one of the Robofuture competition series activities, the Garden Water Affairs Intelligent Robot Exhibition and Project Pitching Month was held at Nanhai Zi Park in Beijing. Reporter 富田 (Fu Tian) Photo

Xinhua News Agency Beijing March 30 (Sun Yanping) Nanhai Zi Park in Beijing welcomed a batch of robot “gardeners.” The reporter learned today from the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (abbreviated as “Beijing E-Tech Zone,” also known as Beijing Yizhuang). As one of the Robofuture competition series activities, the Garden Water Affairs Intelligent Robot Exhibition and Project Pitching Month focuses on three major application scenarios—landscape maintenance, water management, and interactive entertainment—bringing together products from 18 companies nationwide, totaling more than 30 models, for a concentrated showcase of the technology and application scenarios of landscape and water affairs intelligent robots. A relevant official with the Beijing E-Tech Zone said that excellent products will receive support through procurement orders to help more landscape and water affairs robots take root and be applied, providing a “Yizhuang solution” for ecological governance across the country.

Promoting robots into full-process operational scenarios

Moving the competition grounds from the laboratory to real park settings, Beijing Yizhuang is holding this event driven by actual needs. Through three formats—static exhibitions, real-world hands-on demonstrations, and project pitching—it provides a one-stop platform for technology exchange, achievements display, supply-and-demand matching, and capital enabling for the industry.

In the park, a cleaning robot sweeps the area, robotic dogs patrol for inspections and stand guard at designated spots, and ecological patrol robots complete tasks such as patrols, equipment inspections, and biological monitoring through autonomous navigation and voice interaction; in the meantime, grass-cutting robots work in an orderly manner on the lawns. On the water, unmanned water-cleaning boats cruise and collect trash, while flying life-saving rings and underwater rescue detection vessels can stand by to protect emergency rescue in real time. In visitor rest and gathering areas, service robots provide intelligent reception and answer questions, and unmanned vending vehicles provide vending services such as ice cream and beverages. Various robots—including AI water-saving robots, smart maintenance flower boxes that do not require irrigation, and intelligent insect-trend induction and reporting instruments—are applied and showcased in park scenarios.

The event is not only a showcase of technology, but also a “trial run” for orders. In this event, 13 companies introduced innovative breakthroughs in their product solutions and their application prospects. A judging panel composed of technology, industry, and investment and financing experts provided onsite evaluations and guidance, offering professional support such as optimization suggestions and demand matching for project implementation and industrialization development. Meanwhile, the companies will gain opportunities for exposure in large-scale events in Beijing Yizhuang, such as the half-marathon for humanoid robots, and after a one-month real-world application trial and use, they will expand and take root in parks within the zone.

Bo Ya Gongwa (Boyaqi Gongdao) participated with two innovative products. Among them, for the intelligent cruising water-surface cleaning unmanned boat, its single-trip trash loading capacity reaches 50 kg, and its cleaning efficiency exceeds 15 mu per hour, enabling normalized 24/7 unmanned-guard routine cleaning. The company’s deputy general manager and operations director, Fu Yuhan, said that this exhibition setup has built a communication and matchmaking platform, allowing more people to see the real value of intelligent unmanned boats in improving water-area cleaning efficiency and ensuring operational safety.

Kuwo Technology brought two cleaning robots. A relevant person in charge from the Beijing office, Xu Xiaoxiao, said that they use a self-developed “world model” brain to coordinate different devices with different physical forms to work together. They hope to demonstrate practical, out-of-the-box combat-ready capabilities in real landscape and water affairs scenarios, and also hope to meet more strategic partners in fields such as urban management, landscape services, and property management, so as to deepen the “City Services AI total package” model and jointly accelerate the rollout of “RoboCity (Robot Ecological City)” in Beijing.

“Landscape and water affairs robots are a strong, urgent necessity for enterprise-side customers. 2026 will be the first year of the golden growth period in this field. In terms of current customer orders, the directions for landscape robots and water affairs robots are relatively clear.” Cui Min, vice president of investment at MUXU Venture Capital, said.

The event hosted by the E-Tech Zone is another important practice in building the robot industry ecosystem. Relying on the citywide artificial intelligence in-city construction plan, the E-Tech Zone will, in the future, roll out robots in a phased manner in parks within the zone such as Boya Park, Tongming Lake Park, and pocket parks, and further expand to Nanhai Zi Park. The core scenarios will include intelligent inspections, water-surface cleaning, green space maintenance, and companion services. An integrated unified dispatch and management platform will be built to help robots efficiently break through pain points in landscape maintenance and upgrade the experience of visiting parks, empowering the construction of smart-city parks with technology, and creating a smart landscape benchmark model that can be replicated and promoted.

Building a featured industrial path of “competition + orders”

“We hope that through this event, we can achieve ‘select the best through competitions, promote use through exhibitions, and drive production through orders,’ building a complete chain of technology validation—scenario adaptation—market conversion, so that excellent robot products can truly ‘win in competitions, be used effectively, and land on the ground.’” A relevant official with the Beijing E-Tech Zone introduced that this “competition + orders” model is becoming a featured path for Beijing Yizhuang to cultivate new quality productive forces.

It is understood that Beijing Yizhuang has already gathered more than 300 advantage enterprises such as Zhitong Precision, Xinghai Map, Yunj i, and Benmo Technology, and has set up innovative platforms such as the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center. It covers the entire industrial chain, including core components, complete system manufacturing, system integration, and scenario solution proposals, forming an industrial ecosystem characterized by “leading enterprises driving, small and medium enterprises coordinating, and innovative platforms supporting.”

Promote production through competition; promote production through use. Looking ahead, Beijing Yizhuang will continue to deepen the main line of “competition-led traction, scenario empowerment, and platform support.” In terms of the competition system, it will continuously hold events such as the World Robot Conference and the Beijing Yizhuang Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, improve the Robofuture competition matrix, and continuously enhance industrial influence. In terms of scenario development, it will deeply implement the embodied intelligence social experimental plan, continue to release application demand in fields such as industrial manufacturing and family services, build a group of high-value scenarios, and accelerate robots empowering every industry. In terms of platform support, relying on leading enterprises, universities and research institutes, and innovation platforms, it will strengthen efforts to tackle key core technologies, consolidate the data foundation, improve the standard system, and continuously enhance industrial baseline capabilities and the modernization level of the industrial chain, providing support for high-quality development of the robot industry. (End)

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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