CHANGSA, China – This city is fast emerging as a national hub for artificial intelligence, with local companies showcasing advanced robotics, AI-driven e-commerce and large-scale smart manufacturing during the 2025 Overseas Media Tour of the Star City.
Changsha is one of ten cities in China to hold dual national designations as an AI Innovation and Development Pilot Zone and an Innovation and Application Frontrunner Area, a status underscored by its twelfth-place ranking on the 2024 China Artificial Intelligence City Competitiveness List.
Delegates visited several leading enterprises from Oct. 25 to 29, witnessing the deep integration of AI into various sectors.
Hunan Blinx Technology Co. Ltd. (Blinx Tech), a leader in robotics, demonstrated its latest products. R&D manager Xiao Wei noted that following the success of its six-axis robots, the company recently launched a new six-axis collaborative robot.
This robot integrates AI large model technology to deliver industrial-grade performance, featuring expansion interfaces for flexible integration of vision, voice and sensors, making it adaptable for research, manufacturing and smart production lines.
Blinx Tech also showcased the humanoid robot X1, which is equipped with a seven-degrees-of-freedom (seven-DOF) arm, advanced perception, and mobility, allowing it to autonomously perform complex tasks and interpret ambiguous instructions across industries like manufacturing, healthcare, and commercial services.
In the realm of creativity and e-commerce, Hunan Sijiu Technology leverages AI for personalized manufacturing. The company offers DIY creative tools that allow users to produce customized apparel, accessories, and home decor, providing a low-cost, high-efficiency production solution for small entrepreneurs and individual consumers.
Since entering international markets via the Changsha Cross-Border E-Commerce Pilot Zone, Sijiu has expanded onto global platforms, including Amazon, maintaining leading sales positions across nine major international e-commerce platforms and its three self-operated official websites, supporting the Hunan Products Going Global initiative.
The city’s healthcare sector is also seeing major AI advancements. AthenaEyes C., Ltd. has pioneered AI-driven Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnostics, reducing assessment time from hours to just three minutes.
Its Bian Shi device uses sensors, computer vision, and AI models to analyze facial features, tongue condition, and pulse signals—mirroring the diagnostic processes of a seasoned TCM practitioner with eight years of clinical experience. The device can identify over 300 common and chronic diseases, with the company’s self-developed Bian Shi Medical Large Language Model (MLLM) serving as its foundational technology.
Hotone Audio employs AI algorithms to develop digital sound modeling technologies for its music electronics. Its flagship effects processors, like the Ampero II Stage, utilize proprietary high-definition modeling and impulse response technologies. Hotone’s Deep Learning-Based Electronic Audio Data Processing method uses AI to optimize audio and accurately recreate classic guitar tones through digital algorithms. Its products are now exported to more than 100 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Changsha’s intelligent manufacturing capabilities are exemplified by Zoomlion’s Smart Industrial City. The highly-automated facility utilizes over 90-percent automation in manufacturing processes, with industrial robots and autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) enhancing productivity. The site produces a digger every six minutes, an aerial work platform every 7.5 minutes, and a mobile crane every 18 minutes. The park, which includes four main host parks and a key components center, integrates technologies such as intelligent production scheduling, industrial AI, and digital twins to achieve fully intelligent production.
Other notable companies include Chaoneng Robot Technology, which specializes in one-stop design, R&D, and customization of intelligent robots. Its health service robots are deployed in more than 300 cities across China in healthcare facilities, schools and households, and it showcased its Xiangjiang No. 1 humanoid robot for AI-powered health care assistance.
The Malanshan Audio and Video Laboratory is dedicated to advancing audio-visual technology through cutting-edge AI, focusing on breakthroughs in core technologies like image capturing, editing, broadcasting and display. The lab aims to become a world-class audio-visual innovation hub.
