The 2026 World Robot Conference runs Aug. 19-23 at the Beiren Yichuang International Convention Centre in Beijing's Yizhuang district under the theme "human-machine symbiosis, industry-demand integration." More than 300 companies are showing over 2,000 exhibits, with more than 150 product debuts.
The 2026 World Robot Conference is under way in Yizhuang from Aug. 19 to 23, co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization. The exhibition area covers roughly 50,000 square metres.
광고 문의 · 300×250Scale, and what is new
More than 300 companies are exhibiting over 2,000 items, of which more than 150 are first showings. The notable addition this year is a "robot consumer street" — a space where visitors meet robot cooks and robot servers directly and go through ordering and serving themselves.
International participation has widened. Close to 30 international organisations are supporting the event, and overseas speakers make up about 30 percent of the main forum programme. The World Robot Contest finals running alongside draw more than 6,000 teams and over 10,000 competitors from some 20 countries.
From the exhibition hall to the street
The consumer-street format tracks a broader trend of industrial exhibitions widening their contact with general visitors. Industrial robots are judged on performance inside a factory; service robots are judged on whether people actually feel comfortable around them.
Organisers are admitting visitors under 18 and over 60 free of charge — a setup that also allows on-site observation of how interaction with robots differs by generation.
Service robots have spread through the restaurant trade in Korea and Taiwan as well. More Chinese restaurants in Incheon's Chinatown and around Yeonhui-dong in Seoul now use serving robots. A gap remains between prototypes on a show floor and daily operation in a working kitchen, but how fast that gap narrows is the thing worth watching at this year's conference.
