On 22 April, the first Safety and Emergency Rescue Robot Competition, held under the theme “Technology for Good, Life First”, took place at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition CentreFAIR plus 2026 Robotics Industry Networking EventThe competition has officially commenced. Rather than featuring flashy demonstrations, the event issues a “call to action” to universities, research institutes and start-ups worldwide through highly realistic extreme rescue scenarios. As a public-benefit competition, there are no entry fees throughout the event; the aim is to enable more teams with technical aspirations to participate without any barriers, and to jointly explore the boundless possibilities of emergency rescue technology.

At present, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, coupled with urban risks, has created an unprecedented and urgent need for intelligent and unmanned rescue equipment. This competition was guided by the Research Centre of the Ministry of Emergency Management and organised by the University of Emergency Management, with the Guangdong Academy of Sciences Association, the Shenzhen Robotics Association, the Shenzhen Public Welfare Rescue Volunteers Federation, China Electronics Haikang Wuxi Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Industrial Space Development Co., Ltd., and is co-organised by the Shenzhen Emergency Safety Industry Association and the Beijing Pinglan Public Welfare Foundation, bringing together stakeholders from government, industry, academia, research and end-users. During the afternoon session of the “Specialised Robots:Focusing on Emergency Response: Exploring the Potential for Human-Machine Collaboration”At the parallel session, the five highly anticipated practical competition challenges were officially unveiled.”

At the forum, the participating experts did not waste time on pleasantries, but went straight to the heart of the matter, highlighting the current “weaknesses” of emergency response robots.

In his address, Zhong Ruixing, First Secretary of the Joint Party Committee of Science and Technology-related Social Organisations in Shenzhen, noted that extreme weather and disasters are forcing traditional emergency response methods to evolve. Emergency response robots should not merely be sophisticated models confined to laboratories; they should be “tough comrades-in-arms” capable of entering burning buildings, diving into deep water and navigating rubble—serving as a protective barrier to safeguard the lives of rescue personnel. In his view, Shenzhen boasts the most comprehensive robotics industrial chain in the country, and the significance of this competition lies in driving the industry’s transition from consumer-grade to “specialised, combat-ready” applications.

▲Zhong Ruixing, First Secretary of the Joint Party Committee of Science and Technology-related Social Organisations in Shenzhen

▲Professor Wang Pinghui, Party Secretary of the School of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Research and Business at Southern University of Science and Technology

▲Han Zhenfeng, Executive Deputy Director of the Confined Space Emergency Robotics Laboratory at the National Research Institute for Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation under the Ministry of Emergency Management, and Chief Scientist of the competition

Challenges also present opportunities. Liu Yongtao, a professor at the University of Emergency Management and Director of the Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory for Work Safety and Emergency Response Specialised Robots, revealed that China is accelerating the construction of the world’s first training and certification base for embodied specialised robots. Future robots must not merely be “remote-controlled toys”; rather, they must become intelligent comrades-in-arms capable of “easy communication and simple operation” with rescue personnel, achieving deep collaboration where “humans make decisions and machines take the risks”. Hu Weijian, a researcher at the Search and Rescue Centre of the Ministry of Emergency Management, also emphasised that evaluation criteria must return to the principle of “practicality in real-world operations”, allowing technology to evolve through rigorous testing.

Turning her attention to the global humanitarian sector, Hu Huihua, the China Liaison and Co-ordinator for the Private Sector at the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), shared a set of sobering figures: at least 326 humanitarian workers were killed worldwide in 2025. She believes that emergency response robots are evolving from a “concept of the future” into a “vital necessity”, serving as the first “eyes” and “hands” to enter dangerous areas. China’s strengths in manufacturing and supply chains should be channelled into developing technology that is “affordable and accessible” to the world.

▲Sun Zhongwei, Chairman of Shenzhen Huabao New Energy Co., Ltd.

● Targeted delivery of relief supplies to mountainous areas following a disaster:The robot must autonomously navigate 300 metres of complex terrain—featuring steep slopes, loose stones and dynamic water jets—and accurately deliver 20 kilograms of emergency supplies on two consecutive occasions.

● Clearing a narrow passageway in a collapsed building:Simulating a desperate situation deep within the ruins, the robot must crawl into a pipe with an internal diameter of just one metre and carry out millimetre-precise demolition of concrete slabs within an extremely confined triangular working area; any accidental damage would result in a “secondary collapse”.

● Precise Underwater Positioning and Buoyancy-Assisted Rescue during Floods:In murky waters littered with fishing nets and other debris, the robot must rely on a fusion of sonar and visual data to lock onto targets and precisely carry out the attachment and inflation of buoyancy bags for towing.

● Large-scale AI reconnaissance and precision airdrops following a disaster:The drone must, whilst operating in conditions of severe turbulence, rely on AI to distinguish between human figures and thermal interference sources, and drop supplies from a high altitude into designated bins with a margin of error not exceeding 100 millimetres.

● Fire rescue operations in high-rise buildings:This is a multi-dimensional operation requiring ground, climbing and aerial robots to work together—within the communication dead zones caused by thick smoke—to carry out the full range of tasks, from locating the source of the fire, climbing whilst carrying heavy loads, and breaking windows to ventilate the smoke, right through to multi-dimensional firefighting.

During the forum, the Beijing Pinglan Public Welfare Foundation presented details of its forthcoming “China Civilian Ocean-going Medical Rescue Vessel” project. This 5,000-metric-tonne medical vessel will set sail for Southeast Asia, Africa and other regions to carry out humanitarian aid missions, marking a landmark step for civilian rescue efforts as they venture into the open seas. Zhu Zhaokui, Deputy General Manager of China Electronics Haikang Wuxi Technology Co., Ltd., stated that the company would be deeply involved in post-competition technology incubation, helping emergency response robots make the leap from being “usable” to “user-friendly”.

Registration for the competition is now open to participants worldwide. The deadline for submitting proposals for the preliminary round is 30 June 2026, and the final is scheduled to take place in Shenzhen in October 2026. In addition to gaining direct access to leading resources within the industry chain, the winners will also be recommended to the national emergency management authorities as outstanding solutions for use in national-level drills and demonstrations.

As the organising committee has stated, they are looking forward not merely to a contest of technological prowess, but to enabling more young scientific and technological talents to truly fulfil the promise of “using technology to safeguard life” through extreme challenges where life and death hang in the balance, and to jointly create a new paradigm for human civilisation in the age of AI.