At the Robot Mall in Beijing's Yizhuang area, a 4S store dedicated to robotics, over 100 robot models are showcased across various application scenarios, including daily life services, healthcare and wellness, and entertainment. Following a recent upgrade, the healthcare and wellness section now incorporates "embodied intelligence combined with traditional Chinese medicine" applications for the first time, while the entertainment display area has added features such as Sichuan opera face-changing, tai chi, and martial arts performances.

This four-story robotics 4S store, spanning approximately 4,000 square meters, has attracted over 100,000 visitors since opening, generating revenue exceeding 60 million yuan. It has established connections with more than 150 channel partners and expanded its business scope from single robot product sales to end-to-end comprehensive solution services.

With Robot Mall serving as a central hub, Yizhuang has further integrated the Future Robotics Developer Community, the "Jiyin Gongchang" rapid-response supply chain platform, and the Robot Research Institute to create a comprehensive ecosystem covering "exhibition, research, production, and application," spanning display and trading, collaborative development, supply chain services, and scenario validation.

Exhibition Space Bridges Trading and Scenario Needs

"The robotics industry generally faces challenges in matching supply with demand, where companies must knock on doors to find channels and users need to comparison-shop for robots," said Meng Yanpei, Director of the Commercial Operations Division at Beijing Yizhuang Robot Technology Industry Development Co., Ltd. To address this issue, Robot Mall has adopted the traditional automotive 4S store model, incorporating sales, parts, after-sales service, and information feedback, while also offering customized development, financial services, and robot leasing options.

As the robotics industry shifts its focus from individual product technical capabilities to whether robots can effectively enter scenarios, solve real problems, and establish sustainable application models, Robot Mall's display approach is also evolving. Meng explained that the upgrade places greater emphasis on transitioning from "product display" to "application demonstration," allowing users to directly experience robots in specific settings such as home companionship, healthcare, entertainment, and commercial spaces.

Moving from display applications to actual scenario deployment, the platform's services have correspondingly expanded. Meng noted that customer needs often involve solving complete scenario problems rather than purchasing a single robot. The platform provides services ranging from demand consultation and scenario analysis to solution design, product selection, software-hardware integration, project delivery, and after-sales support. Similar initiatives, including robot 4S stores and embodied intelligence 6S experience centers, have already been launched in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Developer Community Fills Secondary Development Gap

Once supply and demand are matched, personalized requirements from various application scenarios still need to be translated into concrete solutions through further development. To this end, Yizhuang has established the Future Robotics Embodied Intelligence Developer Community, providing developers with support from technical validation and product R&D to commercial deployment.

"The Future Robotics community is characterized by its 'full-stack' and 'physical' approach," said Liang Nan, Director of Ecosystem Project Operations at Beijing Yizhuang Robot Technology Industry Development Co., Ltd., who also serves as the community leader and supply chain platform manager. The community comprises an online platform, physical spaces, supply chain services, and incubation support, offering developers access to physical facilities, technical platforms, policy tools, display and trading opportunities, scenario orders, capital support, and living amenities.

Online, the Future Robotics E-Bot Hub platform and mini-program are now operational, providing services including open-source databases, scenario matching, resource sharing, technical support, data analysis, and social interaction. Offline, the physical community located in Building 52 of the Beijing Robot Industry Park spans nearly 5,000 square meters and features shared laboratories, office areas, activity zones, exchange spaces, and leisure areas. Developers can utilize experimental equipment and robot bodies at low or no cost, while receiving supply chain services such as prototyping and component selection. The shared laboratories are currently equipped with 24 embodied intelligence units, including multiple humanoid robots, quadruped robot dogs, and research-grade dexterous hand platforms.

The Future Robotics team stated that this physical space not only opens up equipment access but also facilitates cross-team technical exchange and collaborative development. The top ten winning teams from the Yizhi Cup Yizhuang Embodied Intelligence Developer Challenge have all moved into the physical community to continue iterating their solutions.

Supply Chain Accelerates Robot Transition from Prototype to Mass Production

From technical validation to product deployment, robot projects must navigate component selection, prototyping, verification, and mass production. Data from Yizhuang shows that Beijing's robotics industry revenue grew from 15 billion yuan in 2023 to 51.8 billion yuan in 2025, with more than 30 complete machine manufacturers. However, as R&D iteration accelerates, challenges such as lagging supply chain response times, complex component systems, and gaps between prototype and mass production have become increasingly apparent.

"Previously, companies in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region had to travel to the Pearl River Delta to source components when developing prototypes, with non-standard part prototyping cycles taking as long as 2 to 4 weeks," Liang Nan said. To address the issue of dispersed supply chain resources, "Jiyin Gongchang" has adopted a structure combining online portal platforms with offline physical spaces, building a full-chain service covering component selection, prototyping, verification, and mass production for standard parts, non-standard parts, electronic components, and core components.

To improve selection and delivery efficiency, the platform has launched its "12485" rapid service system, bringing together more than 20 leading suppliers to provide one-stop BOM (Bill of Materials) selection services for the entire robot product range. After companies submit their requirements, the platform completes matching assessments and initiates process evaluation within 2 hours, compressing standard part physical delivery to 48 hours, while also providing five guarantees covering selection, capacity, cost, collaboration, and deployment.

The offline space is designed to aggregate supply chain companies. The first phase of "Jiyin Gongchang's" physical space covers 2,800 square meters and can accommodate office space for at least 50 supply chain companies, currently achieving "full occupancy upon opening." Resident companies cover areas including dexterous hands, chips, communication modules, reducers, and LiDAR. The platform also leverages the demand foundation formed by over 300 robotics companies and 20,000-plus developers in Yizhuang to promote adaptation among upstream and downstream enterprises.

Beyond improving response and delivery efficiency, unifying component interfaces and protocols remains a key challenge. Liang noted that the interoperability rate among motors, reducers, and sensors from different manufacturers is currently below 40%. The platform is addressing this through two approaches: establishing supplier admission and performance credit evaluation systems on one hand, and promoting the gradual convergence of common interfaces and protocols through actual testing and data feedback on the other. Building on supply chain services, Yizhuang has also completed the Beijing Humanoid Robot Pilot Testing and Validation Platform and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region's first 10,000-unit-level embodied intelligence robot super factory, further covering production needs from prototyping and pilot testing to mass manufacturing.

Real-World Scenarios Test Robot Application Capabilities

Before transitioning from product development to commercial application, robots must undergo validation in real-world scenarios. The Robot Research Institute 2.0 features eight major scenarios: entrance greeting, front-desk ordering, kitchen cooking, meal delivery, dining atmosphere, post-meal cleaning, leisure interaction, and parent-child experiences. Cooking has become the focal point of this upgrade. In phase 1.0, robots primarily prepared relatively simple foods such as pancakes and skewers; in phase 2.0, robot chefs can now cook approximately 50 Chinese dishes including braised pork, stir-fried sausage with Dutch beans, and shredded potatoes.

Through data training and parameter optimization, robot chefs can now measure each seasoning to within 0.1 gram accuracy, with heat control and seasoning ratios having undergone repeated testing. "Only by putting robots in real-world environments with genuine human activity can we expose problems that laboratories cannot reveal," Meng Yanpei said. Nearly 20 robots of different forms operate simultaneously in the restaurant, requiring coordination to handle scheduling, collision avoidance, and collaboration within limited spaces. These issues must be further validated under real customer traffic and complex ordering demands, with the restaurant's daily foot traffic of several hundred people providing operational data and user feedback for product iteration.

Building on current scenarios, the Robot Research Institute will continue to expand robot applications in greeting guidance, food preparation, and entertainment experiences. According to the announced iteration roadmap, robot chefs will automatically adjust cooking parameters based on ingredient conditions and environmental temperature and humidity, provide personalized dishes according to taste preferences, and further reduce manual intervention throughout the entire operational process.

Ma Ning, Deputy Director of the Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Bureau at the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, stated that Yizhuang will continue to deepen its "competition-driven, scenario-empowered, platform-supported" system in the future, creating a batch of high-value scenarios to attract more companies to establish operations.