Zoomlion used its seventh Science and Technology Innovation Conference to show where the heavy machinery company thinks the next phase of industrial equipment is going.
The company hosted the event on June 16 and showcased more than 130 innovations across AI, intelligent equipment, green technology and high-end manufacturing. The conference was built around AI and global development, with Zoomlion using the event to review research progress, recognize internal innovation and outline its next R&D priorities.
For Clanks readers, the robot angle is hard to miss. Zoomlion said the exhibits included remote-operated tower cranes and robots designed for firefighting, levee inspection and humanoid applications. Those systems were presented alongside larger machinery breakthroughs, including the world’s largest-tonnage hybrid mining truck, an 82-meter aerial work platform and a 100-kilogram-class hydrogen-powered drone.
That mix says a lot about where industrial robotics is heading. Robots are not arriving as a separate side project. They are being folded into construction equipment, emergency response, inspection, logistics and smart factory systems. For a company like Zoomlion, the future robot may not always look like a standalone machine. It may be part of a larger intelligent worksite.
Zoomlion Chairman and CEO Zhan Chunxin said the company needs to use AI as a tool to empower industries, products and business management. He described the goal as accelerating Zoomlion’s transition into a technology-driven, value-growth company.
The company says that shift is already showing up in its sales mix. Digital, intelligent and green products accounted for 74.5 percent of Zoomlion’s product sales in 2025. Zoomlion also says it spends about 8 percent of annual revenue on R&D, which is a serious commitment for a heavy equipment manufacturer.
The humanoid piece is especially interesting because Zoomlion has been teasing a broader embodied AI strategy. At the conference, the Future Value Award went to ZValley, Zoomlion’s industrial technology unit, for its 1.3-meter bipedal humanoid robot project. That follows other recent company activity around humanoid and industrial robots, including robots used for logistics handling, inspection, loading and unloading, pre-assembly and quality inspection in Zoomlion’s own smart manufacturing environments.
Zoomlion is also pushing global R&D harder. Zhan called for localized development and product certification for different regional markets, along with technical staff deployed to support sales. The company reported international revenue of 30.5 billion yuan, or about $4.4 billion, in 2025, making up roughly 59 percent of total sales.
The conference also handed out 84 science and technology achievement awards, with total bonuses reaching 22 million yuan, or about $3.3 million. That may sound like internal company ceremony, but it gives a glimpse at how seriously Zoomlion is trying to turn research into products.
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