Tianjin develops sensors for embodied AI

On sorting lines in smart factories, at precision workstations in automobile manufacturing plants and even at home tending to household chores, a batch of robots equipped with multidimensional tactile sensors can dexterously grasp, operate and adaptively perform tasks, accomplishing movements that were once only possible for humans.

These robots, capable of sensing pressure, texture and posture, possess "tactile fingertips", enabling artificial intelligence to transition from virtual algorithms to the real world. This is the industrial transformation brought about by embodied intelligence, and the core "sensory organs" enabling it all originate from Tianjin.

"Robots are important carriers of AI, facilitating its transition from the virtual world to reality," said Yin Jihui, secretary of the Hexi district Party committee. As a national advanced manufacturing research and development base, Tianjin is focusing on core technology research and industrial implementation of embodied intelligence robots, cultivating a group of globally competitive industry leaders. PaXini Technology (Tianjin) Co is one such representative example.

"The key to these logistics robots lies in our independently developed multidimensional tactile sensors," Lin Tong, director of PaXini' s data collection center, said. Currently, 80 percent of humanoid robots worldwide utilize PaXini's sensors. Tactile sensors, known as the cornerstone of the intelligent cognition and information interaction industry, have also been listed by China as one of the key critical chokepoint technologies alongside lithography machines and chips.

"Five or six years ago, similar tactile sensor products cost as much as 100,000 yuan ($14,770) each, severely restricting the development of the entire robot industry," Nie Xiangru, co-founder of PaXini, recalled. The high import costs made tactile perception a luxury in the robotics field, making it difficult to be commercialized on a large scale.

To break the monopoly, the PaXini team spent four to five years in R&D, successfully creating the world's first 6D hall array multidimensional tactile sensor, transforming core technology from a heavy reliance on imports to 100 percent domestic self-sufficiency.

Today, PaXini's basic tactile sensor models are priced at only 199 yuan, just 0.2 percent of the price of equivalent products in overseas market. This has made tactile perception accessible from laboratories to various industries, turning a luxury into a basic hardware accessible to everyone.

The key to reducing costs lies in significant optimizations in chips, structure and algorithms with each product generation, Nie said. "The advancement of software algorithms enables us to reduce our reliance on hardware. Coupled with the growth of the industry, when prices become cheaper, the order volume increases, and with more orders, the costs can be further reduced. Naturally, the prices spiral downward."

PaXini's competitiveness lies not only in the independent R&D of core components, but also in its underlying data.

Last year, PaXini's Super EID Factory, officially commenced operations in the Kongtian digital industrial park in Hexi district. It is currently the world's largest embodied intelligence data collection and model training base.

"For robots to be deployed effectively, they require sufficient scenario-based data support," Nie said. The factory utilizes critical data from various vertical work scenarios to enable robots to learn how to work, thus enabling them to adapt to practical applications more quickly.

As the world's largest EID collection and model training base, this factory's daily collection capacity is equivalent to 1.02 to 1.52 times that of an entire worker's career. The factory encompasses thousands of tasks across full-chain embodied intelligence application environments, including automotive manufacturing, households, offices, catering, supermarkets, healthcare and medical services, aiming to simulate the complex scenarios robots may encounter in the real world.

The Super EID Factory will produce nearly 200 million pieces of high-quality and high-dimensional embodied intelligence training data annually. "This provides a revolutionary solution to the core problems faced by the current physical intelligence industry, such as the scarcity of data sets and the lack of tactile modal data," Lin said.

Tianjin, as a policy and industrial hub, offers a favorable environment for cross-border data transactions. This is why PaXini chose to establish its factory in Tianjin. "Choosing Hexi district was not only for its central urban location, but also for its market-oriented business environment and full-chain industrial services," Lin added.

The company was granted 12,000 square meters of usage area in Hexi district to create a "data intelligent manufacturing" scenario without noise or pollution.

He added that as a free trade zone, Tianjin was the first to release enterprise data classification standards and data cleaning operation lists, forming a complete data policy system. Leveraging its diverse application scenarios and geographical advantages, Tianjin has become a core node for data collection and cross-border circulation.

Starting from Tianjin, PaXini plans to further expand its data collection bases and factory scale, ensuring data is not only produced locally, but also fully utilized, aiming to promote the internationalization of China's data standards and serve the global intelligent industry development.

In recent years, Tianjin has formed a complete robot industry chain from core components and complete machine manufacturing to system integration and application services. "In recent years, we have formed a relatively complete industrial ecosystem in the fields of industrial robots, specialized robots and service robots," said Zhai Lixin, vice-mayor of Tianjin.

In 2025, there were 104 robot industry chain enterprises in Tianjin and the industrial output value was 13.5 billion yuan, an increase of 18.9 percent year-on-year, while operating income was 27.8 billion yuan, an increase of 16.3 percent year-on-year.

This year, the Government Work Report proposed "creating a new form of intelligent economy", a novel economic form driven by AI while deeply empowering various industries through "AI+".

"Tianjin has a solid industrial foundation in areas such as automobiles, electronic information and aerospace. This determines that the development of local robots must first focus on serving production and meeting the actual process requirements," Zhao Fengjiao, secretary-general of the Tianjin Robot Industry Association, said.

Shiyun Technology (Tianjin) Co, a high-tech robot company specializing in special industries and high-risk operation scenarios, has achieved mass production and commercial deployment in various fields, including cultural and entertainment performances and industrial intelligent manufacturing.

In medical scenarios, Shiyun's intelligent hospital robot guides can provide guidance with consultations, full-process accompaniment and emergency assistance for patients, making healthcare safer and more efficient, an employee at Shiyun said.

This company has constructed a "body-cerebellum-brain" software and hardware full-stack technology layout, centered around a "one-body, three-intelligences" full-stack platform — using the embodied body as the hardware base and integrating interaction intelligence, motion intelligence and operational intelligence to achieve a complete closed loop from perception to action.

"Shiyun's greatest breakthrough is its focus on embodied intelligence solutions," he said. The company is accumulating high-quality data assets in the industry and has begun constructing and deploying data collection factories nationwide, enabling continuous iteration of "operating while labeling and training", making robots become smarter with each task.

"We will comprehensively establish R&D centers, production workshops and testing centers in Tianjin, building a full industry chain system integrating R&D, manufacturing, sales and services. This year, we will implement 10 standardized scenarios and expect to achieve mass product delivery by 2027," said Cao Keqian, chairman of Shiyun.

According to the "Tianjin Action Plan for Promoting Innovation and Development in Artificial Intelligence (2025-27)", Tianjin will focus on the field of embodied intelligence in the future, promoting the research and application of underwater robots, industrial robots and special-purpose robots.

"For each enterprise, we will adopt a customized approach for assistance, aiming to create a more competitive industrial ecosystem," Zhai said.

Chen Yijun contributed to this story.

yandongjie@chinadaily.com.cn