- SAIC deploys its first humanoid robot, Nengzai No.1, on Buick Electra E7 battery line for core cell handling.
- Nengzai matches production takt, hits ±0.1 mm accuracy, two-second cycle, and uses 85% less floor space.
- China’s humanoid robotics shift to industrial scale accelerates, with Morgan Stanley forecasting 28,000 shipments in 2026.
On March 27, SAIC Motor has deployed its first humanoid robot, “Nengzai No.1,” on a mass-production battery line for the Buick Electra E7, where it undertakes core tasks including battery cell handling and loading.
This marks not only SAIC’s first such deployment, but also one of the earliest real-world applications of humanoid robots in automotive mass production in China.
The robot was jointly developed by SAIC-GM and Zhiyuan Robotics, a company backed by SAIC’s industrial finance arm.
It features human-like capabilities such as visual perception, dual-arm coordination, and force-controlled grasping, enabling it to autonomously identify incoming battery cells and plan handling paths without relying on fixed programming or precise positioning.
From a performance standpoint, the system is already aligned with production-line takt time.
It delivers positioning accuracy of ±0.1 mm, completes single operations in around two seconds, and occupies only 15% of the floor space required by traditional workstations.
SAIC-GM began researching and testing humanoid robots as early as 2023, while SAIC’s investment arm initiated its stake in Zhiyuan Robotics during the same period.
By 2024, the three parties had aligned on deploying the technology, selecting the battery cell production line as the first application scenario.
Industry-wide exploration is accelerating in parallel. Tesla introduced its humanoid robot program in 2021 and has since iterated to the third-generation Optimus, with CEO Elon Musk indicating plans for mass production by 2027, targeting annual output of one million units.
XPeng unveiled its humanoid robot IRON in November 2025, with mass production planned by the end of this year.
Xiaomi’s CyberOne robot has already been deployed in its EV factory die-casting workshop, performing tasks such as self-tapping nut installation while making recent advances in dextrous-hand tech.
Li Auto is also advancing both two-wheeled and bipedal robot development, with its two-wheeled robot expected to debut this year.
Humanoid robotics is now entering a critical transition phase from laboratory experimentation to industrial deployment.
Morgan Stanley forecasts that China’s humanoid robot shipments will rise 133% year-on-year to 28,000 units in 2026, and could reach 2.6 million units by 2035.
Discover more from ChinaEVHome
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
