（原标题：Companies in the GBA｜UBTECH managed to become the first listed humanoid robot company）

南方财经全媒体记者 杨雨莱 广州报道

“Once we had nothing, but we will end up having everything.” This is the opening line of the popular TV series, The City of Youth, in 2023. The story is based on Shenzhen, the city of youth, describing the startup journeys of several generations of Shenzhen people, the struggle they had and the miracles they created.

A main story in this series is the main character, Fang Yuanjian, leading a team to develop the world’s leading humanoid robot from scratch. This is not a sci-fi story, but the true story of UBTECH ROBOTICS, a robot company based in Shenzhen.

When it comes to the experience of Zhou Jian, the founder of UBTECH, that is really full of daredevil moves. He spent 20 million yuan in three years, and appeared on the Spring Festival Gala four times in six years. The humanoid robot developed by UBTECH is the only one can be mass-produced and delivered in the world. The whole trip Zhou Jian has led UBTECH through, is nothing but a legend. 

In 2012, when UBTECH was founded, China’s humanoid robots is still a blank field. And it boldly entered this "no man's land". Exactly how hard is it to build a humanoid robot? If Goldbach's conjecture is the brightest jewel on the crown of mathematics, then humanoid robot is the brightest jewel on the crown of robot. The technical difficulty is comparable to “moon landing”.

While huge investment in research and development could still lead to a dead end, UBTECH is determined to break the rule. In the 11 years after its founding, UBTECH’s average annual R&D investment is above 60%. Only in the first half of 2023, UBTECH’s R&D expenditure has already reached 224 million yuan, accounting for 85.9% of its total revenue.

And all the hard work pays off in the end. By the end of June 2023, UBTECH possessed over 1800 patents related to robotics and artificial intelligence. Over 380 of those are overseas patents. UBTECH is now one of the few companies in the world mastering the full-stack technology of humanoid robots.

These robots are not designed to stay in the lab, (but) guest greetings, dance performance, goods handling, family companion…Multiple robots from UBTECH have been successfully commercialized. From 2020 to the first half of 2023, UBTECH has sold 760,000 robots in total, and more than 10 humanoid robots.

In 2023, UBTECH was officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first humanoid robot company listed in Hong Kong. At the listing ceremony, Zhou Jian struck the gong with Walker S, the new generation of industrial humanoid robot. It is the first-ever listing ceremony with a gong struck by a humanoid robot.

Now looking back to this journey, UBTECH may not be able to make the dream come true, without the innovation DNA in Shenzhen. Zhou Jian once mentioned the reason he chose Shenzhen to start his business is that “Shenzhen has the world’s best hard-core science and technology innovation environment.”

As one of the development priorities, a large number of "star" enterprises in Shenzhen's intelligent robotics industry cluster has emerged, forming a complete industrial chain from key components to machine applications. Maybe someday in the future, robots in those sci-fi movies will actually be a part of each family. Just like the line in The City of Youth, “A small step of a robot could be a leap for humankind”.

出品：南财国际传播中心 21新媒体中心 创意互动中心

策划统筹：于晓娜 丁青云

内容统筹：谭婷 叶映橙

责任编辑：黄欣然

执行统筹：黄欣然

设计统筹：林军明

视频统筹：白宇航

监制：施诗

英文翻译&配音：李莹亮

海外运营监制: 黄燕淑

海外运营内容统筹: 黄子豪

运营支持：曾静娇

审校：蒋韵 强燕 黄志明