Beijing, August 10 – At the 2025 World Robot Conference, a wafer-handling robot independently developed by a Beijing state-owned enterprise made its debut, showcasing the latest achievements in intelligent robotics manufacturing.
What is a wafer? The core chips in smartphones, computers, and smart home appliances are built on this foundational material. It is a high-purity monocrystalline silicon disc, the base material for semiconductor devices, typically shaped as thin circular slices. Wafers are widely used in integrated circuit manufacturing, sensor production, and power device fabrication.
“Wafer quality and performance directly affect semiconductor device reliability, making wafer handling an ultra-precision process. The robots must avoid surface scratches and prevent micro-particle generation during movement—even micron-sized dust can render an entire wafer unusable,” explained a representative from Jingcheng Machinery, which has achieved full autonomy in core wafer-handling robot technologies.
At the conference, Jicheng’s subsidiary Pairing Robotics unveiled two self-developed wafer robots: an atmospheric wafer transfer robot and a vacuum wafer transfer robot.
The atmospheric model features dual-arm mechanical design for complex transfer tasks, offering high stability and minimal vibration during semiconductor front-end processes, significantly improving production efficiency.
The vacuum variant is engineered for semiconductor vacuum environments, maintaining stable wafer transport under extreme conditions while delivering efficient transfer solutions.
Pairing Robotics also debuted its YiWelder Smart System. Traditional robotic welding requires extensive manual programming for each production scenario change, whereas this AI-powered system autonomously performs weld seam recognition, obstacle avoidance, and path optimization without human intervention.
Equipped with high-precision vision, the system automatically detects weld seams and generates optimal paths using advanced algorithms. It adapts seamlessly to various workpiece sizes and production environments, improving both welding quality and efficiency.
The system features intuitive handheld terminal operation—workers simply tap near the welding area, and the robot controller uses spatial data to initiate precision welding, replacing complex programming with point-and-click simplicity.
Currently applied in automotive, shipbuilding, and heavy machinery industries, the system excels in “high-mix, low-volume” structural welding scenarios.
Meanwhile, Jingcheng’s subsidiary AVIC Metal displayed its MT400M metal 3D printer. This technology enables complex geometries for humanoid robots—3D-printed arms reduce weight and part counts while enhancing mobility and energy efficiency. Leg components maintain strength while achieving significant weight reduction, improving motion performance and battery life.
“Our integrated ‘equipment + materials’ metal 3D printing solutions accelerate customized and mass production of humanoid robot parts, reducing development cycles and costs while adapting to diverse applications from service robots to specialized models,” noted an AVIC Metal representative.
