Humanoid robots developed by Unitree Robotics dress up in traditional costumes and perform a wuxia show. [Photo/zhengjieclub]

Hangzhou has become the first city in China to introduce dedicated legislation for the embodied AI robotics industry, as the Hangzhou Regulations on Promoting the Development of Embodied Intelligent Robot Industry took effect on May 1.

According to Xia Jingjing, a Hangzhou People's Congress deputy who participated throughout the legislative process, the regulation was completed in less than a year — an unusually fast pace for local legislation. During the drafting process, lawmakers visited robotics companies such as Unitree Robotics, consulted industry experts, and revised clauses based on real business needs.

One major challenge was that embodied intelligent robots previously had no unified legal or academic definition in China. The regulation therefore became the first to formally define the concept in legal terms, while introducing a governance framework balancing innovation with safety oversight.

The regulation also pioneers mechanisms such as coding traceability and sandbox supervision, allowing companies to test new technologies under flexible regulatory conditions without facing rigid restrictions.

Hangzhou currently hosts more than 700 robotics-related enterprises, with its embodied AI industry cluster reaching an output value of 106.8 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) in 2025. Officials said the new regulation directly targets industry bottlenecks including limited data access, difficulties in commercializing research, and insufficient real-world application scenarios.

Observers say the legislation not only strengthens Hangzhou's position in the robotics sector, but may also serve as a model for future AI and emerging-industry legislation across China.

A robot picks ripe fruits. [Photo/zhengjieclub]