Can a robot serve as both a precise surgical assistant and a caring companion for the elderly? That’s exactly the question Jining, a rising robotics hub in East China's Shandong province, is trying to answer. 

Nearly 1,000 robot products were on display at the 2026 "Robotics +" Innovation and Development Conference that ran from July 11 to 13 in Zoucheng, Jining. The event drew over 200 enterprises to explore real-world applications and the future of human-robot coexistence.

Robots in the medical, manufacturing, and logistics sectors were featured, including a surgical robot that can complete knee-replacement planning in just 10 minutes with sub-millimeter precision, a quadruped robot for mining inspections, and companion robots for caregiving. 

The conference also highlighted embodied AI robots that have been operating autonomously in factories for over six months.

"Robots are transforming from production equipment to intelligent terminals," said Liu Wenqiang of the China Center for Information Industry Development. He called for greater innovation in key technologies like intelligent perception and embodied AI.

In a nod to the host city's cultural heritage, Jiang Lei, chief scientist of the National and Local Co-built Humanoid Robot Innovation Center applied Confucius' philosophy of "harmony in diversity" to the robotics industry. He argued that humanoid robotics has not yet reached a point of technological convergence, and therefore different approaches should be encouraged and embraced.

Jining, hailed as one of Shandong's four robot industry hubs, now hosts 92 robotics-related enterprises. The conference released a robot+ application scenario analysis report, a robot product supply list, and a robot application demand list, with 21 projects signed under the city's "five-chain integration" initiative.

A companion-type robot plays chess with visitors. [Photo/VCG]

A bionic robot (left) specializing in traditional Chinese medicine offers guidance at the 2026 "Robotics +" Innovation and Development Conference in Zoucheng, Jining. [Photo/VCG]