A Chinese company has launched a home-grown operating system for robots, which local media hailed as a “major breakthrough” in robotics software, in the latest move by China to achieve self-sufficiency in advanced technologies.
The Intewell operating system, unveiled by Beijing-based Kyland Technology on Thursday, is designed to serve as a foundational software system for embodied intelligent robots – machines capable of physical interaction with the world, according to a report by state-owned newspaper Securities Times.
The new operating system combined various stages of robot operation, from semiconductor deployment to applications, into one system, and was designed to boost the adoption of domestic chips, Li Ping, chairman of Kyland, told Chinese media on Thursday.
“Robots may become the convergence point for all human technologies … therefore, the electronic architecture of robots should not adopt foreign solutions,” Li was quoted as saying. The company’s ultimate goal was to establish an embodied intelligence system based on major home-grown chips, he added.
The new operating system is able to support the use of products from domestic chip designers, including Huawei Technologies, Hygon Information Technology and Loongson, according to Kyland.
The launch of the system aligns with Beijing’s broader push for self-sufficiency in strategic technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics amid rising geopolitical tensions and export restrictions from the US.
It also comes as China’s robotics industry is undergoing rapid expansion, with a growing number of start-ups shifting their products from laboratory demonstration to mass production.
