Beijing’s E-Town offers subsidies to robot buyers as China embraces humanoids

A hi-tech area in Beijing will host a shopping festival for robots, where buyers can receive up to 250,000 yuan (US$34,700) in subsidies when purchasing robots from some of the country’s leading manufacturers of the advanced technology.

The event, which runs through August 17, will cover products from leading Chinese brands such as Unitree Robotics and UBTech Robotics, according to a Sunday post from the administrative body of Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as E-Town, a state-backed hub for hi-tech manufacturing in southeastern Beijing.

The festival marks the launch of a new shop specialising in robot purchases and maintenance, which is scheduled to open on Friday in the E-Town area. Besides Unitree and UBTech, the shop will also feature Tien Kung, a humanoid machine from the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre, backed by UBTech and Xiaomi, and SenseRobot Go, a Go-playing robot from artificial intelligence giant SenseTime.

Corporate clients who purchase products worth 5 million yuan at the shop would be eligible for a subsidy of 250,000 yuan. Individual buyers at the store can save 1,500 yuan if the order is over 10,000 yuan.

Beijing’s E-Town is hosting a robot shopping festival until August 17, offering subsidies of up to 250,000 yuan for purchasing robots. Photo: Handout

Online shoppers also qualify for discounts. JD.com, one of China’s largest online marketplaces, which is headquartered in E-Town, has launched a dedicated channel for the shopping festival, offering more than 680 robot models from 63 brands including EngineAI, whose PM01 performed the world’s first robot frontflip in February, and Limx Dynamics, backed by JD.com and Alibaba Group Holding. Alibaba owns the Post.

South China Morning Post