The award ceremony of the 1st "China Industrial Bank Cup" Shenzhen Health Care Robot Competition was successfully held in Hall 7 of Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center (Futian) on September 14,2025. Yanni ZHONG, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Veteran Cadres of Shenzhen Municipal Committee, Yuanxiang WU , Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs, as well as relevant leaders and guests from Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs, Department of Civil Affairs of all districts in Shenzhen, SHUM YIP GROUP, Shenzhen Happiness and Health Industry Group, Shenzhen Branch of China Industrial Bank, Institutional Business Department and other units attended the award ceremony.

In this competition, the "Xiaoshen (Shennie)" Intelligent Emotional Interaction Robot Project, guided by Academician Haizhou LI , Dean of School of Artificial Intelligence, CUHK-Shenzhen and Professor Jian ZHU, won the Bronze Award.

Nearly 100 Chinese and foreign enterprises participated in this competition, showcasing over 200 health care robots. Following a joint evaluation by expert judges, senior reviewers, and investment & financing institutions, a total of 60 awards were finalized. During this competition, 1 Gold Award, 3 Silver Awards and 5 Bronze Awards were primarily conferred on projects and products that demonstrated the most exceptional overall performance in technological innovation, application value, market prospects, and user experience. Additionally, the competition highlighted the innovative value of niche segments and presented specialized awards, including the Top 10 Humanistic Care Awards, Top 10 Market Potential Awards, Top 10 Application Scenario Awards, Top 10 Technological Innovation Awards, Top 10 User Favorite Awards, and Outstanding Organization Awards.

Yuanxiang WU, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs stated that Smart health care is s becoming the most human-centric and promising application scenario in Shenzhen’s robotics industry in the ceremony.  Supported by policies, capital and other forms of support, Shenzhen has seen the emergence of a large number of leading elderly care robotics enterprises and 'cutting-edge technology' products. The 1st Shenzhen Health Care Robot Competition is a concentrated demonstration of "technology for innovation" and "technology for good," helping robotics enterprises accelerate their transition from "technological champions" to "market champions". Building on this competition as a new starting point, Shenzhen will unlock more real-world application scenarios, support enterprises in open competition, and advance concurrent efforts to achieve core technological breakthroughs and scale up application. This will allow more "Shenzhen-developed" smart health care solutions to expand nationwide and deliver benefits to global communities.

Introduction to Award-Winning Project

The Intelligent Emotional Interaction Robot "Xiaoshen (Shennie)" originated from the in-depth integration of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics technology of CUHK-Shenzhen. She is capable of real-time voice conversations driven by Large Models and can achieve human-like facial emotional expressions, bringing users a warm and intelligent interactive experience.

Technical Highlights

• Rich Expressions: Through the collaboration of innovative bionic design and AI algorithms, she exhibits a variety of facial expressions such as smiling, surprise, and contemplation.
• Smooth Conversations: Powered by a multimodal large language model, she enables autonomous dialogue while minimizing conversational lag.
• Integrated Voice, Expression and Emotion: She can effectively interpret emotional cues during conversations, seamlessly combines voice, facial expressions, and sentiment, and delivers an empathetic interaction experience.

Application Scenarios

• Health Care & Companionship: Engages the elderly in conversations, eases their loneliness, and delivers emotional and recreational value.
• Children’s Education: Provides patient, efficient explanations to boost children’s interest in learning.
• Customer Service: Lowers labor costs while ensuring exceptional customer experiences and effective service results.

Introduction to the Research Team

The Intelligent Emotional Interaction Robot project "Xiaoshen" (Shennie)  jointly supervised by Academician Haizhou LI, Dean of SAI, and Professor Jian ZHU, CUHK-Shenzhen, won the Bronze Award in this competition.
Project members comprise: Dr. Feng JIANG from Shenzhen Technology University, doctoral candidates Xuanyang XU, Kuang Wang, Zhen Luo , and Hao WANG, postgraduate student Taoyang WANG, engineer Qianfeng WANG, and research assistant Jiahui XU, all affiliated with CUHK-Shenzhen.

As a research outcome of CUHK-Shenzhen in the integration of AI and Robotics technology, the Intelligent Emotional Interaction Robot "Xiaoshen(Shennie)" embodies the wisdom of technological precision and humanistic warmth, boasting boundless potential for future development. The Research Team will continue to deepen technological iteration and scenario expansion, promoting "Xiaoshen(Shennie)" and similar intelligent interactive products to move from "laboratory achievements" to "diverse life scenarios". AI should be enabled to align more precisely with the needs of diverse industries, to let the warmth empower permeate people’s daily lives more authentically, and to infuse every interaction with the power and compassion of technology and humanity.