SZIIT teams up with UBTech Robotics

A ceremony is held to celebrate the launch of a project between Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology and UBTech Robotics to promote the integration between industry and education in the industrial humanoid robot sector.

Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology (SZIIT) has teamed up with one of the world’s major humanoid robot firms, further extending its cooperation with local corporate sector to train the country’s much needed talent of the future.

SZIIT announced Wednesday that it has joined hands with Shenzhen-based UBTech Robotics to roll out a project to promote the integration between industry and education in the industrial humanoid robot sector.  

The project, the first of its kind in the country, aims to cultivate high-quality talent to cater to the wide use of humanoid robots in industrial production and explore the huge growth potential of the sector, SZIIT said in a statement.

Under the agreement signed between the two parties, SZIIT and UBTech agreed to set up a technology research center dedicated to the research of industrial humanoid robots.

Through this innovative platform, teachers from SZIIT and engineers from UBTech will collaborate to tackle cutting-edge technologies such as applications of large-scale models and multi-finger dexterous hand adaptations, striving to achieve technological breakthroughs and scene innovations, according to the statement. 

This initiative aims to further promote the dissemination and use of technical and educational achievements in robotics and even broader fields through advancing cooperation between enterprises and colleges, the statement said.

The two sides will also offer training programs to college teachers and students to nurture specialists in industrial humanoid robots and offer training and certification to meet social demand.

The training programs are divided into the Faculty Development Program and the Talent Development Program, with the faculty program recruiting and training teachers from across the country who are enthusiastic about new technologies, industrial upgrading and educational applications. The talent program, meanwhile, aims to provide a platform for students on campus and trainees outside the school to engage in practice and innovation.

The collaboration with UBTech follows similar moves by SZIIT to tie up with local tech heavyweights, such as Huawei Technologies Co., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Shenzhen Inovance, to offer training programs to students to nurture engineers of the future with trending technologies and launch research labs to promote the linkup of education, talent, industry and innovation.

Working together with an industry-leading company is expected to give a fresh impetus to SZIIT’s aspiration of building itself into an excellent vocational college, according to SZIIT.

Founded in April 2002 after the merger of three schools, SZIIT is a national demonstration higher vocational institution, national demonstration software vocational institution and pilot school of the “Sino-German Automotive Vocational Education Project” launched by China’s Ministry of Education.

UBTech, which was founded in Shenzhen in 2012 and introduced its first humanoid a couple of years later, is China’s biggest manufacturer of educational and humanoid robots. 

The firm’s Walker robot is the world’s first commercialized biped (walking on two legs) robot for the consumer market. In the sector, Walker is considered one of the top five advanced humanoid robots in the world along with Boston Dynamics' Atlas, Agility Robotics' Cassie, Toyota's T-HR3 and Honda's E2-DR.

UBTech leads the world in the number of valid invention patents of humanoid robots, according to a report issued by the research institute of People.cn, a domestic news portal, in November last year.

As one of the major players in the humanoid robotics sector, UBTech holds the largest number of valid invention patents for humanoid robot technology globally, with a total of 763 patents, according to the report, which is claimed to be based on analyses of more than 15,000 technical patents related to humanoid robots worldwide.