On January 1, 2026, a landmark event occurred in the field of industrial automation. On December 29, 2025, SYNDA officially launched the industry’s first industrial-grade embodied intelligent robot, SYNDA R1. This robot has already been deployed on a large scale in its Chongqing factory, successfully undertaking core industrial tasks such as adaptive grasping, warehouse handling, PCB quality inspection, and dual-arm collaborative assembly. Relying on its national-level intelligent manufacturing demonstration factory with an annual production capacity of 10,000 units, SYNDA is leveraging its full-chain advantages of “independent technology development + scenario verification + large-scale delivery” to drive embodied intelligence from the laboratory to industrial mass production, injecting strong momentum into the intelligent transformation of the manufacturing industry. The deployment of SYNDA R1 is no accident; its comprehensive industrial-grade design precisely matches the stringent requirements of industrial scenarios. It adopts a full-size anthropomorphic architecture, standing 1.78 meters tall with a 2.05-meter arm span, equipped with 24 high-degree-of-freedom joints. Its working range covers from the ground to a height of 2.1 meters, and its waist supports 0-61 cm height adjustment, easily bridging the entire workflow from ground handling to high-level assembly. The dual-arm load capacity offers three options: 3/5/10KG, with a working diameter of 1.95 meters. Combined with self-developed high-performance joint modules and nanosecond-level synchronization technology, it achieves sub-millimeter-level operational accuracy and full-frequency vibration suppression. In terms of core performance, SYNDA R1 is equipped with a self-developed integrated intelligent control system. Through deep collaboration between “perception, decision-making, and execution,” the system’s response speed and stability are significantly improved compared to traditional solutions. Its innovative dual-battery hot-swappable and automatic recharging technology supports 24/7 continuous operation, perfectly matching the uninterrupted production needs of modern factories. The four-wheeled omnidirectional chassis gives the robot flexible movement capabilities such as rotation in place and lateral translation, allowing it to operate smoothly even in narrow workshops or complex ground conditions. For different operational needs, the robot can be flexibly equipped with a dexterous hand and industrial grippers. In the PCB quality inspection process at the Chongqing factory, it can complete the inspection of flexible circuit boards with a precise force of less than 0.5N, reducing the breakage rate to an extremely low level. In the real working conditions of the Chongqing factory, the SYNDA R1 demonstrated extremely strong scene adaptability. In adaptive grasping tasks, through multimodal fusion perception using 3D LiDAR, RGBD cameras, and tactile sensors, the robot can intelligently identify workpieces of different shapes and materials, dynamically adjusting gripping force and posture. It can stably grasp both irregularly shaped parts and fragile items, significantly reducing damage rates compared to traditional equipment. In warehouse handling scenarios, its 1.2 m/s moving speed and centimeter-level navigation accuracy enable seamless connection from shelves to production lines, shortening loading and unloading cycles to 8 seconds per cycle, significantly improving logistics turnover efficiency. In PCB quality inspection, the SYNDA R1, with its sub-millimeter positioning accuracy, can quickly identify minute defects and positional deviations on circuit boards, improving inspection efficiency by more than three times compared to manual inspection. In dual-arm collaborative assembly tasks, the error in arm coordination is controlled at the micrometer level, successfully completing high-precision assembly of multiple components, solving the pain points of traditional automated equipment in flexible assembly. This “one machine, multiple uses” characteristic allows it to flexibly switch between different workstations, breaking the application limitations of traditional fixed robots and becoming a mobile intelligent collaborative partner on the production line. The reason why SYNDA has been able to take the lead in achieving large-scale implementation of industrial intelligence is inseparable from the support of two core advantages. On the one hand, relying on the ecological synergy following Haier’s strategic investment, SYNDA uses Haier’s 163 factories as a “natural testing ground.” From the R&D stage, SYNDA R1 directly faced real industrial challenges such as noise, vibration, and multi-tasking interference, achieving simultaneous progress in data accumulation, algorithm iteration, and engineering requirements. On the other hand, the company has a smart manufacturing demonstration factory certified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, with a large-scale production capacity of 10,000 units per year. Coupled with a mature supply chain management and quality control system, it provides a solid guarantee for the product from trial production to mass production.
The industry’s first industrial embodied intelligent robot has been deployed in Chongqing, ushering in a new era of intelligent manufacturing.
On December 29, 2025, STEP released the SYNDA R1—the industry's first industrial-grade embodied AI robot—and pioneered its large-scale deployment at its Chongqing factory. Featuring an industrial-grade design across all dimensions, the robot boasts exceptional performance and strong adaptability to various application scenarios; leveraging these dual core strengths, STEP is driving the transition of embodied AI toward industrial mass production.
