'Training centres’ spring up in China to plug data gap in humanoid robots

The facilities collect data needed to make the machines useful in the real world

- Joyce ZK Lim

Home economics meets Star Wars at this “training centre” in the city of Hefei, where humanoid robots are being schooled in the art of household chores.

Some of them water potted plants; others fold long-sleeved shirts and put stuffed toys in a basket. The humans controlling the droids have them repeat each task over and over, as a computer system logs their every move.

The goal: to collect the data needed to teach China’s growing pool of humanoid robots how to behave more like humans — data that experts said is sorely lacking.

Across the country, such data collection facilities have sprung up — with a wave of new openings and announcements in 2025 ~ as businesses and local governments rush to plug the data gap and make the machines genuinely useful in the real world.

Humanoid robots have been all the rage in China. They won fans in 2025 dancing at a Chinese New Year gala show and running a half-marathon, and have been touted as housekeepers and factory workers of the future.

Billions of dollars have been poured into what is seen as a new battleground for US-China rivalry. China has more than 150 companies that make these droids.

But hype aside, the technology is far from mature. At a “robot Olympics” in Beijing in August, humanoids crashed into each other playing football and kept falling down.

“Humanoid robots still aren’t that intelligent in many cases,” said Associate Professor Mo Yilin of Tsinghua University’s Department of Automation. “Right now, what’s most lacking is data.”