The Brief
Galbot chairman Yin Fangming announced at the 2026 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Digital Economy Forum that the company has deployed over 1,000 commercial robots across manufacturing and service sectors. Delivering his first public address since assuming the chairmanship, Yin highlighted deployments with major industrial clients, including CATL, Bosch, Siemens, and Toyota. Galbot aims to leverage the SCO platform to pursue international collaboration by combining its foundational AI models with local industrial and service requirements.
Why it matters
The transition of embodied artificial intelligence from laboratory demonstrations to large-scale deployment represents a crucial milestone for the robotics industry. Galbot's claimed deployment figures and tier-one manufacturing partnerships signal accelerating integration of embodied AI into automotive manufacturing, industrial assembly, and automated retail environments.
China context
China's extensive industrial manufacturing base and diverse commercial environments offer an essential proving ground for embodied robotics. Using multilateral diplomatic and economic channels such as the SCO to promote robotics exports indicates that Chinese AI hardware startups are looking to translate domestic operational validation into overseas expansion.
Editor's View
EDITOR'S VIEW — Analysis and inference, not factual reporting.
While hardware demonstrations have dominated robotics headlines, Galbot's emphasis on deployment metrics highlights a shift toward industrial utility. The real test for Galbot and comparable developers will be recurring commercial demand, unit economics, and operational reliability beyond initial pilot cohorts. Successfully localizing complex robotic workflows across diverse international regulatory and manufacturing environments will determine whether domestic scale translates into sustainable global competitiveness.
What to watch
- Progress of Galbot's international expansion and whether concrete pilot projects launch in SCO member states.
- Repeat purchase rates and operational efficiency data across major client sites such as CATL, Siemens, and Toyota.
- Performance metrics and real-world adoption rates for Galbot's proprietary AstraBrain and World Action Model (WAM) architectures.
Key Takeaways
- 1Galbot chairman Yin Fangming made his first public appearance since his appointment at the 2026 SCO Digital Economy Forum.
- 2The company reported commercial deployment exceeding 1,000 robots across automotive, electronics, and retail service environments.
- 3Key industrial clients include CATL, Bosch, Siemens, Toyota, SAIC, and BAIC, covering tasks such as sorting, material transport, and fastening.
- 4Galbot has developed the AstraBrain embodied foundation model and the World Action Model (WAM) to support autonomous task execution.
- 5The company plans to use the SCO platform to co-develop localized robotic solutions in international markets.
Chinese robotics firm Galbot has achieved commercial deployment of more than 1,000 robots across industrial and service sectors, according to company chairman Yin Fangming. Speaking at the 2026 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Digital Economy Forum, Yin delivered a keynote address detailing the startup's technical roadmap and global strategy in his first public appearance since taking the chairmanship.
According to reports published by People's Daily, Yin stated that Galbot seeks to utilize the SCO digital economy cooperation framework to foster collaboration with member nations. The company intends to export foundational technology stacks and ready-made product systems while partnering with local industries to build tailored solutions for regional manufacturing and service environments.
On the technical front, Galbot has introduced its proprietary embodied foundation model, AstraBrain, alongside its World Action Model (WAM). The company previously showcased AstraTennis, an autonomous dynamic movement and perception algorithm designed for athletic environments, during the World Humanoid Robot Games to demonstrate perception, decision-making, and motion control in dynamic settings.
Galbot stated that its industrial deployments span major automotive and component manufacturers, including CATL, Bosch, Siemens, Toyota, SAIC, and BAIC. Within these facilities, the robots are assigned to operational tasks such as loading and unloading, sorting, material handling, cable routing, and screwdriving. Beyond heavy industry, Galbot reported placing robots across approximately 50 Chinese cities, including nearly 200 branded capsule locations and automated operations in nearly 100 smart pharmacies.
Yin emphasized that embodied artificial intelligence is moving beyond single-skill tasks toward generalized, multi-task execution. Addressing global commercialization, he noted that the central challenge for the sector remains whether robotics developers can adapt systems to local market demands to establish reproducible, sustainable operational solutions abroad.