New Industry Standards Fuel Standardised and Scaled Growth of China’s Embodied Intelligence Sector
China’s embodied intelligence and humanoid robot industries have entered a standardised development phase, with two key industry standards officially released and implemented to regulate technical evaluation and full lifecycle product management. The YD/T 6770—2026 benchmark testing standard for embodied intelligence, approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, came into force on June 1, marking the establishment of unified evaluation criteria for the fast-growing sector.
The standard sets out systematic specifications for embodied intelligence testing across simulated and real-world environments, covering environmental configuration, task library construction, testing procedures and indicator calculation methods. It builds a unified benchmark framework to assess the perception, decision-making and execution capabilities of embodied intelligent systems, serving as a reliable technical bridge connecting laboratory research and large-scale industrial application.
Complementing the testing rules, a new full lifecycle management specification for humanoid robots has been recently unveiled to address prevailing industrial challenges. The sector has long faced inconsistent identity coding rules, potential public safety risks and blurred responsibility boundaries across industrial chains. The new specification mandates a unique and unalterable digital identity code for every humanoid robot throughout its entire lifecycle from factory delivery to scrapping, enabling full-chain traceability and standardised supervision.
The updated rules target prominent industrial hazards including battery safety risks, mechanical collision failures and autonomous operation malfunctions. They clarify the responsibilities of manufacturers, service providers, distributors, users and regulatory bodies, eliminating loopholes in accident tracing and responsibility allocation during human-machine interaction and algorithm upgrades.
The introduction of the two standards aligns with the industry’s critical shift from technical verification to large-scale commercial deployment. Industrial data shows China boasts over 140 domestic human robot manufacturers, having launched more than 330 product models with an annual shipment of around 17,000 units in 2025.
A national standard system for humanoid robots and embodied intelligence, released in February 2026, further underpins industrial development. Covering core links including basic common technologies, brain computing, component manufacturing, complete machine systems and industrial safety, the system fills domestic gaps in sector-wide standardisation and guides orderly industrial iteration.
These standardisation efforts effectively curb disorderly market competition and prevent the phenomenon of inferior products dominating the market. For industrial scenarios featuring human-robot collaboration, unified technical norms consolidate safety boundaries and build a complete standardised framework for product deployment. They guide enterprises to focus on high-value technical routes, cut invalid research and development costs, and accelerate the transformation of laboratory technologies into verifiable and deployable real-scene capabilities.
Industry players will promote dynamic iteration of the standards through real-scene verification across industrial, household, retail and inspection scenarios. Cross-industry collaboration between governments, industrial organisations, research institutions and application parties will be deepened to form a closed-loop mechanism covering standard formulation, testing, certification and industrial implementation, sustaining the healthy and scaled growth of China’s embodied intelligence and humanoid robot industries.
