Power Industry Embodied Intelligence Conference Opens in Hangzhou, Drawing More Than 1,500

leaderobot.com reported on Oct. 23, 2026, that the 7th CPEM Power AI Conference, the 5th Power Industry Digital Transformation Conference and the 2nd 2026 Power Industry Embodied Intelligence Conference opened in Hangzhou on Oct. 22. More than 1,500 people attended, representing State Grid, China Southern Power Grid, power generation companies, power companies from across China, research institutions, design institutes, universities, and domestic and international AI research, development and manufacturing companies.

The presence of State Grid, China Southern Power Grid, power generation companies, design institutes, universities and AI companies at the same event suggests that discussions about using robots to inspect and maintain power equipment are no longer confined to the research stage. With “digital transformation” and “embodied intelligence” both in the conference titles, the focus appears to be on designing practical implementations that involve field equipment, operations and data connections, rather than simply introducing software.

The key point is that a conference addressing embodied intelligence for the power industry as a practical grid issue, rather than just presenting research, was held on a scale of more than 1,500 participants, including State Grid and China Southern Power Grid. The public materials suggest an effort to connect embodied intelligence to challenges facing power grids, including new power systems, the growing use of power electronics, and uncertainty on both the source and load sides, rather than focusing solely on robot demonstrations. However, this was a forum for discussion, not a product launch or an adoption decision. The conference covered research and applications for live-line distribution network robots based on embodied intelligence, as well as field work in Zhejiang involving collaboration between drones and robotic arms. In the context of related articles from this newspaper, Deep Robotics Tests the DR02 on Rainy Streets in Hangzhou showed efforts to test robots outdoors. This conference, by contrast, brought such individual robot trials into the institutional setting of a gathering of power companies and research institutions. The important continuity is that real-world demonstrations and operational discussions are beginning to converge in the same region and industrial ecosystem, rather than advancing separately. Relatedly, as Chinese Regulators Take a More Cautious Approach to Humanoid Robot IPO Reviews showed, capital markets are scrutinizing the profitability and valuations of humanoid robot companies. Whether deployment in the power industry advances should be judged not by enthusiasm at conferences but by specifics on site: safety, maintainability, uptime and which tasks will be shifted from people to robots. Viewed through the lens of industry structure, this conference is not an event that robot makers can handle on their own. Power generation, transmission, distribution, design, research and universities were all represented. The issues are therefore likely to extend beyond robot performance to inspection, patrol and maintenance procedures, connections to grid data, and the division of responsibility in field operations. Power grids in particular have many types of equipment and varied conditions, including outdoor, elevated and confined spaces, so adaptation to specific applications is likely to matter more than general-purpose humanoids. The next questions to watch are whether specific demonstration projects emerge after the conference, what equipment they target, and how safety, communications and data requirements for actual operations are defined. See the original source for details.