Why humanoid robots are headed to the Guangxi border
China is preparing to put humanoid robots to work at a live international border. UBTech Robotics has signed a 264 million yuan (about US$37 million) agreement to deploy its industrial grade Walker S2 robots at crossings in Guangxi, the southern region that shares a land border with Vietnam. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in December through a humanoid robot center in the coastal city of Fangchenggang. The project is set to guide travelers, manage crowd flow, assist patrols, support logistics tasks, and provide commercial services at border facilities. UBTech says the same robots will also perform inspection work at manufacturing sites that process steel, copper, and aluminum.
This contract is one of the largest real world deployments of humanoid systems within Chinese government operations. It puts humanoids in direct contact with the public, in busy and unpredictable spaces that demand mobility, perception, and reliable operation. The choice of an industrial platform for this role reflects a shift underway in China, where agencies, airports, factories, and city services are weaving robots into daily work as part of a nationwide push in embodied artificial intelligence.
Guangxi’s border posts handle steady flows of travelers and freight tied to regional trade, tourism, and cross border commerce. Human staff already rely on kiosks, cameras, and fixed scanners. Humanoids add a mobile element that can navigate existing layouts built for people. They can move to where help is needed, address common questions, convey safety instructions, carry small loads, and relieve staff during peak hours. UBTech’s goal is to show that a general purpose robot, designed for factories, can take on front line roles in public settings without heavy site changes.
What the Walker S2 can do
Walker S2 is UBTech’s latest full size humanoid designed for industrial environments. It stands about 1.76 meters tall and uses a highly articulated body with 52 degrees of freedom. Each hand has 11 degrees of freedom for dexterous manipulation, which enables sub millimeter precision for assembly and grasping tasks. The robot can carry up to 15 kilograms with each arm within a vertical workspace that stretches from ground level to roughly 1.8 meters. High torque joints in the waist allow deep squatting and stooping so the unit can work on low shelves and confined spaces where fixed robots struggle.
Mobility and balance are central to its design. Walker S2 uses a binocular stereo vision system with RGB cameras for human like depth perception and mapping. Dynamic balancing algorithms help it stay stable during bipedal movement while it carries loads, steps on uneven surfaces, or moves at speeds up to 7.2 kilometers per hour. These abilities are meant for dense, dynamic settings such as factory aisles, stockrooms, and, now, border halls with changing flows of people.
Power and 24 hour operation
A standout feature is the autonomous power system. Walker S2 uses a dual battery pack with hot swap capability. The robot can navigate to a station, remove a depleted pack, insert a charged one, and return to work in around three minutes. Self swapping power is designed to keep the robot in service nearly around the clock without human intervention. In continuous operations like inspection rounds or high traffic checkpoints, this limit on downtime is central to the economics of humanoid deployment.
Vision and decision making
UBTech integrates its BrainNet 2.0 and Co Agent AI frameworks for perception, task planning, and autonomous exception handling. The software stack combines multimodal reasoning with motion planning so the robot can interpret instructions, break them into steps, and adapt when it encounters unexpected obstacles. In practical terms, this means a unit can be assigned to shuttle materials, answer routine questions, or check equipment status and then re plan as traffic, staffing, or environment conditions change.
How the rollout will work at crossings and factories
The Guangxi project is a pilot designed to test a wide range of duties. At crossings, Walker S2 units will guide travelers to lines and counters, act as mobile information points, and help direct people during peak hours or special events. During quiet periods, the same units can patrol predefined routes, flag unattended items, and support staff with simple logistics tasks like moving parcels or supplies between counters. The platform can also be assigned to provide commercial services, such as wayfinding, promotional information, or basic customer support.
Border operations in Guangxi
Fangchenggang sits on a major trade corridor with Vietnam. Crossings handle a mix of tourists, migrant workers, and cargo teams. The intent is not to replace officers but to add mobile, tireless helpers that smooth bottlenecks and free staff for complex checks. In a typical shift, a humanoid could rotate between crowd flow management, traveler assistance, and escorting passengers who need extra help to specific windows or exits. Speech interaction and multilingual support can be tailored to local needs. Over time, tasks can be expanded based on performance and feedback.
Industrial inspections in metals plants
Beyond border halls, the same Walker S2 units will conduct inspections at steel, copper, and aluminum facilities. These jobs often involve repetitive rounds, reading gauges, scanning labels, checking for leaks or sounds, and navigating stairs and narrow passages. A humanoid can move through human scale spaces, aim cameras or sensors at equipment, and send data to supervisors. If long routes or hot zones are involved, self swapping power and robust materials help the robot stay on task without frequent manual support.
China’s fast push into embodied AI
Government policy has set clear targets for robotics and embodied intelligence. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has established a national committee for humanoid robotics, a move that signals priority support for standards, research, and commercial adoption. Agencies across provinces already use robots for daily work. Police patrol robots operate in cities including Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Chengdu. A robot at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport answers passenger questions. Immigration teams have tested multilingual systems at major summits. Customs officers in Shenzhen have paired language models with inspection robots to verify cargo. The Guangxi deployment fits this pattern of live trials that feed data back to developers and integrators.
Market expectations are rising. A report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology projects China’s humanoid robot market could exceed 100 billion yuan by 2030, up from a small base today. Goldman Sachs Research forecasts a global market near US$154 billion by 2035 under a mid case scenario. Public showcases, including long walking trials and national competitions, attract attention, but the critical step is moving from demonstrations to daily work that generates measurable value. Border halls and factory floors provide that test.
Business stakes for UBTech
For UBTech, the contract is both a showcase and a production challenge. The company says cumulative orders for the Walker series have reached 1.1 billion yuan since shipments began this month. Management plans to deliver around 500 industrial humanoids by year end, scale production by a factor of ten in the following year, and reach an annual output of 10,000 units by 2027. The firm is also working to lower manufacturing costs as volume grows. In parallel, it has pursued a share placement in Hong Kong to raise fresh capital for expansion. Its shares dipped slightly on the financing news, a common reaction when new equity is announced.
Domestic customers are already testing humanoids in frontline roles. Major automakers, including BYD, Geely Auto, FAW Volkswagen, Audi FAW, and BAIC, have begun integrating UBTech units for mobility intensive tasks on production lines. Logistics leaders such as Foxconn and SF Express are deploying robots in warehouses and smart factory operations. Early results point to reliable performance in high traffic industrial spaces, which is where the Walker S2 was designed to operate. UBTech is also shifting from selling single units to delivering full operational packages that include deployment plans, training, and scenario setup.
To address concerns about demand and supply, the company has pointed to a growing backlog. In an interview with local media this month, UBTech executive Tan Min discussed the scale of interest from customers.
“The orders we have received far exceed the announced number,” Tan said, noting that the market for practical humanoids is expanding beyond early pilots.
Opportunities and concerns
The Guangxi pilot offers a clear demonstration of where humanoids fit best. The platform is compatible with human scale spaces, from doorways to counters and stairwells, so it can work inside existing layouts. Battery swap capability keeps units online during long shifts. In public venues, a single robot can alternate between wayfinding, crowd flow, and basic logistics, then hand off to a fresh battery without taking a long break. At factories, the same design helps a robot reach floor level items, lift moderate loads, and perform repetitive checks in areas that are tiring or risky for people.
Concerns are real. Border facilities collect sensitive information and run under strict rules. Any system that moves, senses, and interacts with the public must follow clear policies on data use, privacy, and safety. Transparent guardrails and human oversight are essential. Operators will need to set boundaries on what the robots can access and ensure that any analytics are auditable. Hardware reliability also matters at border sites, which face crowd surges, humidity, rain, and heat.
Industrial trials show that performance improves with iteration. Early UBTech prototypes in 2024 struggled with slow movement and reliance on visual markers, and their efficiency lagged far behind human workers. A later generation added better gait stability, more capable hands, and improved vision, which widened the workable task range and raised throughput. Walker S2 builds on these lessons with stronger joints, refined control, and self swapping power. The company also uses a layered AI approach so skills learned in one location can be shared across a fleet, cutting training time for new deployments.
Market risk is another theme. Analysts at Goldman Sachs have warned about overcapacity if production ramps faster than real orders. UBTech counters that its order book is strong and that demand is broadening across factories, logistics, and public services. The Guangxi pilot, combined with growing industrial contracts, will test whether unit economics hold up as deployments scale. If the robots can keep costs down while staying productive, that will support higher volume manufacturing targets.
How this compares to other humanoid efforts
Humanoid robots have drawn heavy investment worldwide, but few programs have crossed from labs to daily use. In the United States, Agility Robotics is rolling out Digit in warehouses, and Boston Dynamics has pivoted its Atlas robot to a new generation for research and industrial tasks. In China, a rival developer recently set a distance record for humanoid walking. These milestones help prove out mobility and durability, yet the hard part is useful work at scale. UBTech’s approach centers on an industrial grade platform that can move through human spaces, carry moderate payloads, and keep running with minimal downtime. Battery swapping, force sensing joints, and dexterous hands are all tuned for jobs that are repetitive and mobile.
Knowledge sharing is also advancing. UBTech uses a big brain and small brain model, where a cloud level planner allocates tasks and refines strategies, and local controllers handle real time balance and motion. When one robot learns a task, others can receive the same skill over the network. That approach shortens deployment cycles for new sites. The Guangxi pilot will pressure test this architecture in crowded public spaces, which pose different challenges than factory lines. Performance at the border, along with inspection work in metals plants, will indicate where humanoids create the most value and where human staff remain essential.
Key Points
- UBTech signed a 264 million yuan (US$37 million) deal to deploy Walker S2 humanoid robots at Guangxi crossings near the Vietnam border.
- Deliveries begin in December through a humanoid robot center in Fangchenggang, with roles that include traveler guidance, crowd flow support, patrol assistance, logistics, and commercial services.
- The same robots will conduct inspections at steel, copper, and aluminum facilities in the region.
- Walker S2 features 52 degrees of freedom, dexterous hands, 15 kilogram payload per arm, stereo vision, and a self swapping battery system that completes a change in about three minutes.
- UBTech reports 1.1 billion yuan in cumulative orders for the Walker series, plans to deliver about 500 units this year, and targets 10,000 units per year by 2027.
- China has formed a national humanoid robotics committee and is expanding real world trials at airports, immigration offices, and city patrols.
- Analysts see growth in the sector but warn about overcapacity if production scales faster than orders; UBTech says demand is strong.
- The Guangxi pilot will test humanoid performance in crowded public spaces and in industrial inspections, two demanding use cases for continuous operation.
