Why is the robotics industry worth paying attention to in 2026? It's not due to hype around concepts, but because domestic breakthroughs in core technologies are reshaping the entire industry chain's competitive landscape.

Let's start with the foundational layer—this is the most easily overlooked but also the most critical position. In the harmonic reducer field, Lide's harmonic reducers, with自主研发的P型齿结构 (independently developed P-type tooth structure), have broken Japan's long-standing monopoly, with domestic market share exceeding 60%. This is no small feat; harmonic reducers are like the blood vessels of robot joints, and their precision directly determines the robot's upper limit. Meanwhile, Hechuan Technology ranks second in domestic market share for general servo systems, and their recently突破的磁编技术 (breakthrough magnetic winding technology) is also expanding into foreign markets; Boke Co., Ltd. has secured the top spot in low-voltage servo systems domestically, with the third-generation frameless torque motor being 30% lighter and especially friendly to mobile robots.

Progress in these components is directly reflected in the complete machine. Estun has built a full industry chain layout, with welding robot technology competitive internationally. Their自主研发的控制器和伺服系统 (self-developed controllers and servo systems) have achieved国产替代 (domestic substitution), and they have strengthened their voice in high-end markets through acquisitions like Cloos. Inovance Technology follows a "工控+机器人" (industrial control + robotics) route, with deep expertise in servo systems and controllers, covering high-growth industries like photovoltaics and lithium batteries extensively. Keyou Smart is working on the integration of industrial software and robots; their proposed "industrial embodied intelligence" solution targets complex scenarios in process industries.

The differentiation in vertical application fields is very clear. Ninebot has mastered platform-level technology for mobile robots—self-balancing, navigation algorithms—and commercial delivery robots have already scaled up. Hangcha and Helie have deep experience in collaborative unmanned forklifts and embodied intelligent robots; the algorithm accumulation for AMR/AGV cannot be caught up in a year or two. Looking at visual inspection, Opt's high-precision machine vision has achieved a漏检率 (miss detection rate) of less than 0.001% in semiconductor wafer inspection (SMIC's 14nm production line is using it), and the efficiency of power battery electrode sheet inspection has reached 120 meters per minute, while the industry average is still around 80 meters. Such硬指标 (hard metrics) give a significant competitive advantage that is hard to shake.

AI empowerment has seen the fastest recent changes. OBOR Zhongguang's 3D vision sensors are globally leading, and their partnerships with top chip companies like NVIDIA and Horizon give them advantages in environment perception for humanoid robots. Multimodal technology is also expanding into industrial inspection. Zhongkong Technology uses the time-series large model TPT2 combined with the general control system UCS to define new standards for industrial embodied intelligence. SilinJie's machine vision inspection system, using AI algorithms, achieves real-time defect classification, with detection efficiency tripling.

The entire industry chain follows a clear logic: breakthroughs in domestic core components → integrated optimization of complete systems → large-scale application scenarios → AI technology empowerment and upgrades. No one link can be missing. The real opportunity in 2026 is not in concepts, but in the tangible technological replacements and market share shifts happening within these links.