At a time when science and technology are developing rapidly, robotics is changing our way of life and production at an unprecedented speed. Xinchang, a small city in eastern Zhejiang known as the "hometown of bearings", has a very deep foundation in the bearing industry. As early as 2010, Xinchang won this honor. By 2024, the scale of the local bearing industry will exceed the 30 billion yuan mark in one fell swoop, and high-end bearings will account for 20% of the domestic market.

Entering Xinchang County Haina Renhe Bearing Co., Ltd., General Manager Ren Rongfu picked up a coin-sized tapered roller bearing and proudly introduced: "Don't underestimate this small bearing. It can maintain accuracy in 8,000 hours of continuous high-intensity operation." For many years, the company has always adhered to the path of differentiated innovation and development, continued to work hard on material research and development and process improvement, and was determined to achieve the localization of key transmission modules of robots, laying a solid foundation for the development of Xinchang's robot industry. However, traditional bearing companies have encountered many difficulties in transforming to the field of robots. With a good innovation ecological environment and a series of government support policies, Xinchang has provided a "protective umbrella" for corporate transformation, greatly reducing the risk of transformation.

Since 2024, Xinchang has started the "acceleration mode" of the development of the robot industry. The local government has successively issued a series of policy documents, including "Xinchang General Intelligent Robot Industry Development Plan (2024-2027)", "Xinchang County Implementation Plan for Promoting the High-quality Development of the General Intelligent Robot Industry (2024-2025)", and "Xinchang County Special Measures for Strengthening Talent Support to Ensure the High-quality Development of the General Intelligent Robot Industry (Trial)". From industrial planning and layout to talent recruitment and training, it guides the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure from all directions and angles, and promotes the scientific layout of industrial clusters.

Under the strong attraction of policies, many high-quality enterprises and projects such as Lingqiao Intelligence, Lancet Robotics, and Interface Transmission have been implemented. Today, around core areas such as electromechanical actuators, harmonic reducers, and roller screws, Xinchang has deployed more than 30 companies such as Sanhua Intelligent Control, Wuzhou Xinchun, and Toman Intelligent Manufacturing, launched more than 40 related products, and initially built a general intelligent robot component industry chain. It is expected that by 2027, the output value of related industries will exceed 8 billion yuan.

In the journey of promoting industrial advancement, Xinchang is well aware that collaborative innovation is the key. "The degree of imitation of humanoid robots by humans can be divided into four stages from shallow to deep: similar appearance, similar behavior, similar skills, and similar spirit. At present, the development of robots is in a critical stage of transition from similar behavior to similar skills." Zhou Chen, general manager of Lingqiao Intelligence, said the current development status of the industry.

To this end, Xinchang actively connects with Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai Institute of Artificial Intelligence and other universities and institutions, and vigorously builds scientific research platforms such as Tianmu Laboratory and Yingjun Humanoid Robot Innovation and R&D Center. Among them, the Tianmu Laboratory jointly established by Xinchang and Zhejiang University plans to focus on key areas such as intelligent manufacturing, relying on the strong talent resources of Zhejiang University, to form a research and development team of 100 masters and doctors to carry out scientific research, and actively promote the precise connection and efficient transformation of scientific research results with corporate needs. This measure has achieved remarkable results. After Wuzhou Xinchun and Tianmu Laboratory established a joint innovation center, they focused on the research and development of humanoid robot parts, intelligent bearings, intelligent sensor applications and other fields. The company's business structure has also been optimized. The proportion of bearing business has dropped from 100% 9 years ago to 50% today, while the growth rate of new humanoid robot parts and new energy vehicle precision components has exceeded 40%. As the main force of innovation, enterprises have also performed well.

In September 2024, Xinchang's local listed company Jiechang Drive and Lingqiao Intelligence jointly established Zhejiang Lingjie Robot Parts Co., Ltd., focusing on the research and development, production, manufacturing and sales of core parts such as robot dexterous hands, joint modules and drivers, and reconstructing the industrial ecology through the superposition of technical advantages. In addition, Xinchang has invested up to 500 million yuan in research and development in the field of general intelligent robots in the past two years. The Science and Technology Bureau has carried out the "unveiling and leading" of county-level specialized and new projects in the field of robots, and has collected 6 technical requirements in total, promoting many technical research projects to be included in the provincial science and technology plan project sequence.

Relying on its solid industrial foundation and superior innovation ecosystem, Xinchang is steadily moving from the "hometown of bearings" to a highland for general intelligent robot component manufacturing, and is constantly writing its own glorious chapter in the robotics industry.