From Lab Falls to City Streets: Is Zhuyuan’s 24-Hour Challenge the Tipping Point for Humanoid Robots?

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A humanoid robot just walked autonomously for 24 straight hours on the sweltering streets of Shanghai, and it might have changed the robotics industry forever.

On August 18, 2025, with asphalt temperatures hitting a sizzling 61℃ (142°F), a life-sized robot from Zhuyuan (Zhiyuan 智元) Robotics completed a grueling endurance test.

This “Summer CityWalk” livestream wasn’t just a publicity stunt.

It set a world record and ended with a bombshell announcement: Zhuyuan’s entire product line, six distinct robot series, went live for sale online.

This is a massive leap from lab demos to real-world, commercial products.

We’re potentially witnessing the moment humanoid robots shift from “conceptual hype” to “practical reality.”

• Duration: 24-hour autonomous walk
• Asphalt Temperature: 61℃ (142°F)
• Road Surfaces Navigated: 7 types
• Obstacles Overcome: 12 categories
• Team Testing Log: >3,000 hours walking time per robot
• Hot-Swappable Battery Change Time: 20 seconds

The Ultimate Endurance Test: 24 Hours in the Real World

Let’s be clear: this was no controlled environment.

This was a “real-world boss battle” for a robot, designed to prove its commercial readiness.

The challenges included:

• Extreme Temps: A daytime high of 37℃ (98.6°F) and a 22℃ overnight temperature drop.
• Tough Terrain: Navigating 7 different types of road surfaces, from smooth asphalt to brick pathways and even puddles.
• Complex Obstacles: Dealing with 12 categories of obstacles, including cones, speed bumps, and—most importantly—unpredictable pedestrians.

“Last year, the robot would fall after a few steps; it was a lab product,” admitted Wang Chuang, President of Zhuyuan Robotics’ General Business Unit.

“This year, the mass-produced machine has a lifespan of several thousand hours… This livestream is a milestone.”

What’s Under the Hood?

This level of performance doesn’t happen by accident. It’s backed by some serious tech:

• Multi-Modal Perception: The Far-Voyager A2 (Yuanzheng A2 远征A2) robot uses an advanced sensor system to see and identify obstacles, even in harsh backlighting.
• AI-Powered Agility: A large model fusion algorithm allows the robot to “improvise” its gait and adapt to unexpected situations on the fly, much like a human.
• Non-Stop Power: A “hot-swappable battery” system lets you change the battery in just 20 seconds, solving the problem of continuous operation.

“The adaptability of full-sized humanoid robots in outdoor scenarios is a recognized difficulty in the industry,” noted Wei Feiming of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

He added that the Far-Voyager A2’s performance proves its sensor and algorithm tech have been practically validated.

And the 24-hour livestream? That’s just a fraction of their testing.

The Zhuyuan team revealed each robot has over 3,000 hours of walking time logged, and the company is pushing toward a 720-hour continuous walking test.

More Than a Stunt: Zhuyuan’s Full Product Lineup Hits the Market

Right after the livestream, Zhuyuan dropped another bomb: its full product lineup went on sale on Zhuyuan Mall and JD.com.

This signals a deep “engineering mindset” focused on commercialization.

The company uses a “forward design” approach: define the real-world scenario first, then build the hardware to match.

This ensures the final product is reliable and not just a collection of cool but fragile parts.

And they didn’t hold back. Six product lines are now available, with prices ranging from ¥98,000 RMB ($13,500 USD) to ¥450,000 RMB ($62,000 USD).

Product Deep Dive: The Zhuyuan Robotics Matrix

Zhuyuan isn’t just selling one robot; it’s targeting multiple markets with a clear strategy.

• For Enterprise: The Far-Voyager A2 Series
  • This is the “silicon-based employee.” The flagship version can handle cross-cultural communication with a massive enterprise knowledge base and multi-language skills.
  • A “Youth Edition” priced at ¥168,000 RMB ($23,100 USD) targets the entertainment and commercial performance space, bringing costs down.
• For Interaction: The Lingxi (Lingxi 灵犀) X2 Series
  • Built for emotional interaction, this series ranges from a Youth Edition with 30+ micro-expressions to an Explorer Edition with open permissions for secondary development.
• For Everything Else: The D1 Quadruped (Dog) Robot Series
  • D1 Pro: For entertainment, with a running speed of 3.7m/s and a rental model to lower the barrier for performance agencies.
  • D1 Edu: For universities and research, acting as a “mobile laboratory” with standardized interfaces.
  • D1 Ultra: An industrial-grade beast with an IP54 protection rating, designed for tough jobs like security patrols and pipeline inspections.

Zhuyuan Robotics Product Lineup & Pricing

Product Series	Target Market/Application	Price (RMB)	Price (USD)
Far-Voyager A2 Series (Flagship)	Enterprise (Silicon-based employee, cross-cultural communication)	¥450,000	$62,000
Far-Voyager A2 “Youth Edition”	Entertainment, Commercial Performance	¥168,000	$23,100
Lingxi X2 Series	Emotional Interaction, Secondary Development	Starts from ¥98,000	Starts from $13,500
D1 Pro (Quadruped)	Entertainment (rental model)	N/A (rental)	N/A (rental)
D1 Edu (Quadruped)	Universities, Research (mobile laboratory)	N/A	N/A
D1 Ultra (Quadruped)	Industrial (security patrols, pipeline inspections)	N/A	N/A

The Strategy: How Zhuyuan Plans to Win the Robotics Race

Peng Zhihui, co-founder and CTO of Zhuyuan, says the core of intelligence is “generalization.”

The goal is to create robots that aren’t just tools but “partners” that can adapt to messy, real-world situations.

The business strategy is just as pragmatic.

“Commercial services make it easier to calculate ROI than industrial applications,” explained Meng Binjian, a market expert at Zhuyuan.

He argues that in commercial settings (like brand promotion), a robot can generate attention and traffic that’s more cost-effective than traditional advertising.

This “from easy to difficult” strategy is already paying off.

Zhuyuan has secured a contract with China Mobile (Zhongguo Yidong 中国移动) to use the Far-Voyager A2 for reception in their lobbies, where its ability to remember 1,000 faces and 1 million knowledge entries will be put to the test.

Is 2025 the “Year of the Humanoid Robot”?

All signs point to yes.

This isn’t just about one company’s success. It’s about a fundamental shift in the industry’s mindset.

The competition is no longer about “who can walk more steadily” but “who can create the most value.”

Zhong Junhao of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Association points to a key advantage: “China has an advantage in ‘hardware-software integration’ engineering capabilities. Zhuyuan’s localization rate has exceeded 95%.“

This means they control more of their supply chain, allowing for faster iteration and lower costs.

As Professor Yin Zhen of Tongji University puts it, successful implementation has to meet three key demands: cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and danger replacement/experience enhancement.

Zhuyuan’s path seems to be hitting all three.

The 24-hour CityWalk wasn’t just a demo. It was a declaration.

The era of humanoid robots is moving from the lab to our streets, and the key to unlocking this future isn’t just about being able to walk—it’s about being able to work.

From what we’ve seen, Zhuyuan’s humanoid robot lineup is ready to do just that.

References

• Southern Metropolis Daily
• Zhuyuan Robotics’ “Summer CityWalk” Humanoid Robot Completes 24-Hour Autonomous Walking Challenge – Phoenix Digital
• Zhuyuan Robot Completes First 24-Hour Outdoor Road Test for Humanoid Robot at High Temperatures – The Paper

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