On January 13, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Action Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Industrial Internet Platforms (2026–2028). It mentions advancing the empowerment of industrial internet platforms by artificial intelligence, and supporting platform enterprises to focus on high-value scenarios in key industries, accelerating the cultivation of self-decision-making, self-executing and self-evolving industrial scenario agents such as process automation assistants, intelligent inspection digital humans, and embodied intelligent equipment.
Strategic Layout and Industrial Foundation of Embodied Intelligence
In the wave of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, embodied intelligence has become a new track for global competition. As an important part of future industries, embodied intelligence has been officially included in China’s 15th Five-Year Plan recommendations, and is regarded as one of the new engines for future economic development.
At present, China’s embodied intelligence industry is in the initial stage of development, with a solid foundation in the R&D of embodied intelligence large models and product manufacturing. The market scale is expected to reach 400 billion yuan by 2030 and exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2035. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is recommended to prioritize tackling key technologies focusing on common problems, expand application scenarios by classification according to product maturity, address safety shortcomings through practical feedback, and timely research and formulate forward-looking measures to cope with employment and ethical issues, so as to promote the sound interaction between high-quality industrial development and high-level security.
Essence of Embodied Intelligence: Integration of “Brain” and “Body”
Embodied intelligence is the integration and innovation of multidisciplinary technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and cognitive science, and represents the latest frontier and commanding height of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. The essence of embodied intelligence is the organic combination of AI software that simulates the “brain” and physical hardware that simulates the “body”, so as to realize the integration of “perception-cognition-execution”. In form, it manifests as embodied agents such as intelligent robots, autonomous vehicles, and autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles. These agents perceive the real environment, form cognition and decisions, and thus independently execute tasks in the real world. Unlike “disembodied intelligence” software based on the internet virtual environment such as DeepSeek and ChatGPT, and different from traditional physically embodied but non-intelligent entities like robotic arms, robots, machine dogs, and drones that perform fixed tasks under human control in specific environments, embodied intelligence is the organic combination and in-depth integration of the two.
Practical Applications and Transformative Impacts Across Fields
Once mature applications of embodied intelligence are realized, they will bring fundamental changes and systematic impacts to many fields of economy and society.
First, it will greatly improve economic operation efficiency. Industrial robots equipped with precise perception, independent decision-making and continuous execution capabilities can tackle complex scenarios that traditional robots cannot handle, realize 24/7 continuous operation and flexible production, and significantly improve industrial production efficiency and product quality consistency. Intelligent service robots can be applied to various emerging consumption scenarios such as cultural tourism performances, educational assistance, reception services, and food delivery. Fruit-picking robots and tea-picking robots will profoundly change the traditional manual labor methods in agriculture and greatly improve agricultural picking efficiency. The Boston Consulting Group points out that laser weeding robots can reduce herbicide usage by 80%. Autonomous vehicles can achieve efficient passenger and cargo transportation, significantly reducing casualties and property losses.
Second, it will transform the social elderly care service model and improve the level of public services. A report by the International Council of Nurses shows that with the acceleration of population aging, the global shortage of nurses will reach 13 million by 2030. Home care robots can assist humans in providing basic services and personalized companionship for the elderly, serving as an important means to address the challenges of aging and promote the development of the silver economy. The Pepper robot developed by Japan’s SoftBank Group can adjust its dialogue strategies through microexpressions and provide psychological counseling in nursing homes. Intelligent robots and bionic robots can also enter dangerous sites such as fire scenes, earthquakes, nuclear radiation areas, deep-sea and deep-space development to perform tasks, reducing the operational risks for personnel.
2025 is known as the first year of embodied intelligence industrialization, and a large number of embodied intelligence products are moving from the virtual digital world to the real physical space.
In the workshop of an enterprise in Hunan, embodied intelligent robots are conducting pilot operations on multiple production lines such as logistics and assembly. With “eyes” like visual sensors, they can independently identify and perform tasks such as grasping and handling.
At the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, embodied intelligent robots are busy cleaning garbage. Empowered by new technologies, they can intelligently adjust cleaning strategies in complex environments.
However, to be realistic, the current technology of embodied intelligence is not yet mature, and its commercial potential remains to be tapped. What surprises will it bring us in the future? Standing at the starting point of this technological revolution, we are confident, patient, and full of expectations.
