Humanoid Robotics Momentum: London and Shanghai Host Major Industry Summits Concurrently

Humanoid Robotics Takes Center Stage: Major Summits Convene Simultaneously in London and Shanghai

London & Shanghai – May 30, 2025 – The global push towards advanced humanoid robotics is unmistakably accelerating, underscored this week by two major industry events unfolding concurrently in Europe and Asia. While London hosts the Humanoids Summit, bringing together leading researchers and companies, Shanghai is simultaneously holding its Embodied Intelligence Developer Conference, signaling strong governmental and industrial backing for the sector in China.

London's Humanoids Summit: Charting the Path to Mass Production

The Humanoids Summit, taking place on May 29-30 at the Novotel London West, is the first of two global gatherings planned for 2025, with a second event scheduled for Silicon Valley in December. The London edition features an impressive lineup of speakers, including Pras Velagapudi, CTO at Agility Robotics; David Reger, Founder and CEO of NEURA Robotics; Zoey Zhao, Senior Business Head at Unitree; Luis Sentis, co-founder of Apptronik; Nicolas Heess, Director of Robotics at Google DeepMind; and Remi Cadene, Principal Scientist at Hugging Face. Discussions are centered on critical next steps for the industry, such as achieving mass production, strategic capital allocation, and fostering ecosystem growth.

Yesterday at the summit, Hugging Face, in collaboration with The Robot Studio and Pollen Robotics, unveiled two new open-source robots: the humanoid HopeJr and the compact desktop robot Reachy Mini, further detailed here.

Shanghai Champions Embodied Intelligence with Policy Push

Simultaneously, Shanghai's Zhangjiang hi-tech zone is the venue for the Embodied Intelligence Developer Conference. This event, which also commenced on Thursday, includes forums, corporate exhibitions, and a humanoid robotics skills competition. University students are participating in tasks ranging from soccer matches to practical applications in industrial, household, and commercial settings, using robots provided by organizers.

Wu Jincheng, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai municipal government and Pudong district chief, emphasized the city's commitment to the sector. "We will double down on our support in technology commercialisation, real-world scenario applications, and market promotion, along with increased government procurement," he stated at the opening ceremony. Wu also highlighted initiatives including funding, open-source data for embodied intelligence, development of industry clusters, provision of start-up spaces, and housing incentives for talent.

Shanghai is a significant hub for robotics in China, reportedly accounting for a third of the nation's robotics industry. The Pudong district alone hosts over 100 robotics firms. The Zhangjiang Robot Valley project, launched in 2020, is a testament to this focus. The city is home to emerging robotics companies like Agibot, Fourier, Kepler Robotics, and DroidUp, alongside the National and Local Humanoid Robotics Innovation Centre. In a recent move to bolster the field, Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment and Pudong district launched a dedicated embodied intelligence fund in April, targeting 1 billion yuan (approximately US$138.9 million).

A Global Surge

The simultaneous occurrence of these two significant events, each with a distinct but complementary focus, paints a clear picture of a global robotics community in high gear. While London emphasizes the technological and business strategies for scaling humanoid development, Shanghai showcases a strong, policy-backed push for innovation and application. Together, they reflect a worldwide intensification of research, investment, and strategic planning aimed at integrating intelligent robots more deeply into society and industry. The key question remains how quickly these ambitious goals will translate into widespread, practical deployments.