Reference News Network, January 14 report: According to the website of "El Español" on January 12, the humanoid robot technology is now facing a real "test of combat." In this context, China has made humanoid robot training a priority. China has started to build a batch of large-scale professional training centers that specialize in collecting physical interaction data between robots and real environments, aiming to gain an advantage in this long-term competition.

The report points out that unlike the United States, which focuses its research and development on private companies such as Tesla and Figure AI, China chooses to invest in the construction of public training bases. In these bases, robots are like trainees undergoing training, being taught various operational skills by technical personnel.

Beijing's Shijingshan District has a highly representative training base - the Humanoid Robot Data Training Center. This center is one of the largest humanoid robot training bases in the world at present.

This complex covering more than 10,000 square meters has been transformed into a dedicated training base for robots, with 16 training zones simulating real-world scenarios, covering automotive production lines, smart homes, and elderly care services.

The report states that the core goal is to let robots simulate various scenarios they may encounter in factories, homes, and nursing institutions in a controlled environment in advance. The campus is full of cameras and sensors, not missing any detail in the robot's operation process.

In the training center, technical staff use game joysticks, virtual reality headsets, and exoskeleton devices to control humanoid robots, making them repeat tasks such as folding clothes, ironing clothes, and wiping tables hundreds or even thousands of times a day. These repetitive operations generate massive motion trajectory data, which are then used to train artificial intelligence models that control the robots.

The report points out that the Beijing authorities define these training centers as "robot skills training schools." Here, robots not only need to learn to "complete tasks," but also to master the ability to "complete tasks efficiently and effectively." Humanoid robots that have undergone training will "graduate" and then be deployed to factories, logistics parks, or nursing institutions for "employment."

This training model directly addresses a clear technical pain point: the data required for robot technology is far more complex than the data supporting generative AI tools' large language models.

The report points out that robot development requires data such as force feedback, friction, grasping failures, minor collisions, and real-time corrections, and these data can only be obtained when robots move in the physical world.

This approach coincides with the concept of European companies like Noiro Robotics in building "neural robot training halls."

However, the training bases built by Beijing have more ambitious goals. Their service targets are not limited to a single robot model or brand. The core positioning of the Shijingshan Humanoid Robot Data Training Center is first of all a data factory. It is understood that the center has established a standardized data processing system, including robot data collection, data annotation, and storage.

This system can integrate data from different manufacturers and different sensors, converting it into a standardized dataset directly usable for training general humanoid robot base models.

As of the end of 2025, dozens of humanoid robot data collection and training centers have been put into operation across China.

The establishment of a national robot training network has brought China a key strategic advantage: the ability to quickly build a public database serving the national robotics industry through mass production methods. (Translated by Han Chao)

March 22, 2025, engineers adjust a humanoid robot at the Tianqi Humanoid Robot Data Collection Training Base located in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua News Agency)

Original article: toutiao.com/article/7595041678231110194/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.