Zhejiang Humanoid Robot Innovation Center Co., Ltd. brought its NAVIAI humanoid robots to the 16th Smart City and Intelligent Economy Expo, which opened in Ningbo on Friday, showcasing real-world applications in apparel manufacturing and smart retail.
The company said its robots are moving into real scenarios to perform real tasks, backed by a full-stack, self-developed product system. It is targeting two ends of the market: production sites that demand efficiency, precision, production-line compatibility and stable operation, and consumer settings that require natural interaction, environmental adaptability and flexible service.
In apparel manufacturing, Zhejiang Humanoid has focused on flexible production, where soft fabrics are prone to wrinkling, collapsing and unpredictable deformation. Over two years, it said it moved from template-machine operations to automated pocket attachment, and from single-point validation to multi-process coverage.
At the expo, its NAVIAI WA1 uses visual-tactile fusion perception, dexterous manipulation and dual-arm coordination to perform piece separation, flattening and feeding, pose alignment, grasping and feeding, posture adjustment, and two-handed clamping, alignment and insertion. It works with existing apparel production equipment to complete the pocket-attaching process.
The company said core metrics from the scenario demonstrated the robot’s potential in flexible manufacturing and non-standardized production. In April 2026, Zhejiang Humanoid partnered with Aitu Robot to advance commercial deployment of humanoid robots in the global apparel industry. Apparel manufacturing could become one of the first application scenarios where embodied intelligence achieves commercial viability, it said.
In retail, the company displayed its NaviStore smart retail pod, first launched in March 2026. Over the past six months, the pod has been iterated in cabin form, robot capabilities and product categories, and deployed in Ningbo, Beijing and Shenzhen, with operating data feeding back to drive further optimization, the company said.
At the expo, consumers placed orders through the pod, further validating its capabilities. Zhejiang Humanoid said its retail push goes beyond robot vending, positioning the robot as a hub linking goods, consumers and commercial spaces. It aims to meet demand for instant response, engaging interaction and warm service, moving “robot plus retail” from a single-function display to a full commercial service experience.
Humanoid robots are moving past conceptual hype into an “operation era” centered on scaled application, the company said. Its booth remains open at the expo for visitors to see NAVIAI’s performance in apparel manufacturing and smart retail. Through the expo, Zhejiang Humanoid said it is exploring “real demand” for industrial applications, using generalizable, high-precision operation capabilities to create value for industrial upgrading and fulfill its mission of “creating a new intelligent partner for humanity.”
