Huazhong University of Science and Technology 华中科技大学
Wuhan research university whose mechanical engineering school leads China's Tri-Co Robot research and incubated the Jingchu linear-drive humanoid.
Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) is a public research university on Luoyu Road in Wuhan, Hubei Province. It enrols more than 50,000 students, including about 30,000 undergraduates, 15,000 master's students and 6,000 doctoral students, and employs 6,611 faculty and staff, among them more than 1,200 professors. The university states that it is the only Chinese university managing four national laboratories or national science centres.
HUST is one of China's main academic centres for robotics and intelligent manufacturing, with most of the robotics work based in the School of Mechanical Science and Engineering (MSE). The school is closely associated with the Tri-Co Robot (coexisting, cooperative and cognitive robots) agenda, the subject of a major research plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China on the basic theory and key technology of tri-co robots. In 2018 academicians Xiong Youlun and Ding Han established the Zhihu Award Fund at HUST to reward young scholars working on robotics theory and applications, particularly tri-co robots. An MSE student team, iRobotCNC, led by Associate Professor Zhao Huan, won the Tri-Co Robot Challenge at the 2019 World Robot Contest in Beijing ahead of teams from Harbin Institute of Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Dalian University of Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. MSE research on multi-robot intelligent grinding of large-scale components was selected as one of China's ten advances in intelligent manufacturing science and technology for 2018.
In humanoid robotics, the team of academician Ding Han developed the Jingchu humanoid robot, which uses linear-joint drives in the lower limbs, a bionic head and high-sensitivity electronic skin; it was shown publicly in Wuhan in February 2025 with 20 degrees of freedom. To commercialise the work, the Ding Han team, the Wuhan Industrial Innovation Research Institute and other partners set up Hubei Jingchu Humanoid Robot Co., Ltd. in Wuhan in spring 2025, with HUST MSE professor Zhao Xingwei as general manager and HUST professor Tao Bo as chief scientist. The company's Jingchu family now includes a full-size 170 cm, 60 kg humanoid with 50 degrees of freedom and linear-drive knee joints, wheeled reception and companion robots, a heavy-duty robot and a six-degree-of-freedom dexterous hand with magnetic tactile sensing and a palm camera. Jingchu robots with more than 40 joints and fingertip magnetic tactile sensors were demonstrated handling soft tofu in early 2026 and are slated for parts handling, sorting and inspection on a Dongfeng Motor assembly line.
HUST's robotics and CNC research also has deep industrial ties in Wuhan: Wuhan Huazhong Numerical Control, a listed CNC and industrial robot maker, is headquartered in the HUST Science Park. For the RobotToday directory, HUST is profiled as a research institute and the upstream source of humanoid, dexterous hand and robotic machining technology rather than as a product vendor.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Jingchu humanoid robot
Humanoid developed by academician Ding Han's HUST team with linear-joint lower-limb drives, bionic head and electronic skin; commercialised by Hubei Jingchu Humanoid Robot Co.
Jingchu dexterous hand
Six-DoF dexterous hand with magnetic fingertip tactile sensing and a palm camera, from the HUST-derived Jingchu humanoid programme.
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Contact Huazhong University of Science and Technology
WEBSITE
https://www.hust.edu.cnHEADQUARTERS
China
Company Facts
Founded
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Primary Role
Research Institute
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Asia-Pacific
Annual Sales
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Funding Stage
Grant / Non-profit
Funding Total
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Keywords
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology
- 华中科技大学
- HUST
- Tri-Co robots
- Ding Han team
- Jingchu humanoid
- linear-drive joints
- electronic skin
- robotic grinding
- School of Mechanical Science and Engineering
- World Robot Contest
- Research Institute
- Humanoid
- End-effector & Grasping
- Education & Research
- Manufacturing
- Research Platform
- Grinding
