Shenzhen Startup Turns Workers Into Humanoid Pilots
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- IO-AI Tech, a startup about 45 minutes north of downtown Shenzhen, equips workers with VR headsets, handheld controllers, and motion-tracking gear to remotely control humanoid robots for factory floors and convenience stores
- A custom motion-tracking glove instantly transferred the journalist's finger movements to 10 different robotic hands—50 digits total—from various manufacturers, with haptic feedback that let the user feel a ball placed in an electronic hand
- IO-AI Tech is testing its system with a Chinese convenience store chain, where operators using a VR headset and grippers pick and stack items like medication boxes on shelves
- Cofounder Si Chin compared the company's incremental approach to AI automation with the rollout of self-driving cars and said robot teleoperation is gaining traction in Chinese vocational schools
- Clothes-equipment maker Jack Sewing Machines is working with IO-AI to train two-armed robots to iron shirts and slot onto existing production lines, replacing work currently done by hand
- IO-AI's algorithms combine human control with some autonomous movement because humans and robots differ in size, shape, and weight—without independent balance, a robot can tip over
Why it matters: Teleoperation is emerging as the bridge technology in China's humanoid sector: it creates a new category of blue-collar work today while generating the training data manufacturers hope will eventually unlock fully autonomous humanoids. For factory owners like Jack Sewing Machines, it offers a near-term path to automating tasks that never fit rigid robotic form factors, reshaping what factory labor actually looks like.
