The International Horticultural Exhibition 2024 Chengdu (the Expo) launched the program of “Robots Entering the Expo” on August 15 at the main venue of the Expo in the Chengdu Eastern New Area. Over 60 robots of more than 20 types were exhibited. Visitors could get close to and appreciate the cultural heritage of Li Bai and Du Fu EX humanoid robots, enjoy the dance of robot dogs, experience the outstanding performance of cutting-edge products such as humanoid robots, security patrols, and emergency response robot dogs, and interact with retail robots, coffee robots, and other products, feeling the convenience and fun brought by the robot technology.

The event attracted over 120 representatives from leading domestic robot enterprises, upstream and downstream enterprises in the Chengdu robot industry chain, the city’s scenario platform service enterprises and financial service institutions.

EX robots are based on the prototypes of Li Bai and Du Fu, to recreate the scenes in the prosperous Tang Dynasty (618-907）. The Jinyun Tower (Brocade Clouds Tower), a landmark building at the Expo, is a construction designed and built on the inspiration of a poem by Li Bai, incorporating traditional Chinese architectural characteristics and showcasing the scenery of Chengdu during the Tang Dynasty. Inside the tower, EX robots of advanced bionic technology, modeled on Li Bai and Du Fu, represent the demeanor of these two literary giants that allows visitors to have a dream back to the Tang Dynasty.

The EX bionic humanoid robots have up to 140 degrees of freedom, equipped with a multi-motor collaborative control ROS operating system for humanoid robots independently developed by their manufacturers. Combined with a trunk and limbs controlled by dozens of flexible actuators, the robots are capable of flexible movements and realistic expressions.

The performances by dog robots attracted a large number of visitors at the site of "Reflections of Green Bamboo on Rippling Water", where they watched 20 robot dogs dance together with concerted and agile movements when the music arose, presenting a visual and auditory feast of light and shadow to the audience. It is reported that the Unitree robot dog GO1 is the world's first mass-produced accompanying bionic robot, which once made appearances at the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the 2023 Super Bowl pre-game show, and the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and Asian Para Games.

At the foot of Tianfu Eye, another landmark building at the Expo, stood the models of the first-generation humanoid robot N1 from NOETIX Robotics. They can mimic the movements of the visitors’ upper limbs through visual recognition, which attracted a large group of enthusiastic visitors in interactions. The robot dogs, with their cute and adorable appearances, flexible movements, and stable and reliable autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance functions, can perform 7x24-hour unmanned patrol tasks. The emergency response robot dogs can not only serve as patrols, but also can carry out emergency rescues and supportive actions.

The largest food street at the Expo, Rongcheng Time Street is a congregation of various flavorful cuisines from different parts of Sichuan, such as spicy wontons, pork intestine noodles, soup rice with peas, allowing visitors to enjoy delicious food while sightseeing. Roaming the street were a group of robots. These robots, made at Yuefan Roadbot, received orders placed online by visitors and set out to deliver the corresponding food to the designated location, allowing visitors to experience the easy life in "Happy Chengdu with the hustle and bustle life" enhanced by high technology.

Visitors at the main exhibition hall of the Expo saw a coffee robot grinding beans and brewing coffee non-stop. It can produce an offer of a high-quality freshly ground coffee in 50 seconds, a speed more than three times faster than traditional handmade methods. By adopting a fully automatic intelligent program that 100% learns and replicates the skills of human champion baristas, the robot achieves coffee flavors comparable to famous coffee chain stores. Furthermore, the coffee robot offers options for concentration, temperature, sweetness, cup size, and coffee bean types to meet the individual needs of visitors.