Chinese firm Pudu Robotics used the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) to display its complete lineup of robots — and walked away with a prize.
According to a PR Newswire release, Pudu, which describes itself as a global leader in commercial service robotics, showcased its full portfolio of intelligent robotics solutions at the event and won the conference's "Most Investor-Attractive Enterprise" award. The same announcement was carried by Newswire and PA Media.
The recognition points to the money and attention now flowing toward companies that build robots for everyday commercial settings — machines that deliver food, clean floors, and assist workers in places like restaurants, hotels, and warehouses.
Pudu was not the only robotics maker making news at WAIC 2026. According to reporting distributed through Yahoo Finance, The Manila Times, StreetInsider and Malay Mail, ACE Robotics used the same conference to unveil Kairos 3.1 and to expand what it calls its "embodied AI stack, from data to deployment." The Malay Mail item describes the launch as combining a unified, action-oriented world model with an "Ambient Capture Engine 2.0," three commercial solutions and a new industry benchmark.
Taken together, the announcements underline WAIC's role as a major stage where robotics companies court investors and stake out competing visions for embodied AI — software intelligence built into physical machines.
Why it matters: the awards and product launches at WAIC 2026 signal that commercial and embodied robotics is drawing serious investor interest, a sign of how fast the field is moving from demonstrations toward real-world deployment.