Hundreds of robots are roaming this Chinese theme park. It’s only the beginning of our humanoid future

FastCompany: The Chinese robot manufacturer AgiBot just released more than 300 autonomous robots into a theme park to let them mingle freely with the public. It’s the largest deployment of this kind ever. In fact, this embodied AI invasion dwarfs any other public deployment of robots in China. Nothing in the West gets close to it. These 300 robo-spartans are now roaming the public walkways and hotels of Chimelong Spaceship Park in Zhuhai, on the Pearl River Delta bordering Macau. It’s a fleet made mostly of autonomous humanoid robots, which interact with families with kids in the park’s walkways, not inside fenced attractions.

They can play table tennis, perform martial arts demonstrations, guide lost tourists, and check in guests to hotel rooms. [Photo: AgiBot] AgiBot built the fleet with Chimelong Group—a Chinese conglomerate that operates theme parks and luxury hotels—and the telecom company China Mobile. According to AgiBot, these humanoids are now an integral, fundamental part of visitors’ park experience. It’s a preview of a near-future world in which embodied AI becomes part of the human experience, full-time and everywhere, from supermarkets to hospitals. The implications of this humanoid rollout go far beyond one theme park in southern China.

It’s effectively a big experiment to provide humanoids with priceless data on how the world really works. This is vital information for the future of the industry, as embodied AI means putting intelligence into physical bodies that can sense, move, and manipulate the real world. Today, robots’ autonomy is constrained by AI’s limited understanding of reality. The problem is that you can’t fully validate robots in a lab. You need chaotic, unscripted human environments. And there’s no environment more chaotic than a resort packed with tens of millions of visitors a year, like the one at the Chimelong park.

This kind of large deployment puts Beijing way ahead—once again—in the race to control the next big industrial revolution of this century. China already captured roughly 90% of worldwide humanoid shipments in 2025 and more than 97% in the first half of 2026, according to data from Bloomberg . It’s not hard to tell where this is going. [Photo: AgiBot] But beyond the global robotics race, the other big story here is the way this deployment can change the visitor experience in theme parks. Just compare AgiBot’s 300-robot fleet roaming the walkways at Chimelong to Disney parks’ current state of robotics.

While they were pioneers for decades, the House of the Mouse’s most advanced mechanized characters are only clever remote-controlled animatronics that get wheeled out under constant supervision by handlers and engineers, surrounded by crowd buffers designed to protect both guests and expensive intellectual property. Very cute, but hardly relevant for the future of theme parks (or humanity, for that matter). AgiBot’s fleet isn’t confined to a corner of the park or a single attraction. They work at the theme park and they mingle with the public on their own, the company tells me. Not just on a stage. Not behind glass.

Not tethered to a hidden rail system or a technician with a joystick. [Photo: AgiBot] From illusion to reality To see why this deployment may be a revolution rather than an evolution, rewind to 1964, when WED Enterprises—the original name of Walt Disney Imagineering—built an animatronic Abraham Lincoln for the New York World’s Fair. That single figure locked in the template the entire theme park industry has followed for six decades. A fixed mechanism wired to a tape loop, incapable of deviating from its programmed gestures by even a fraction of a second.

Article truncated for readability. Read the full piece →

The article discusses a significant technological advancement in the theme park industry that could influence brand strategies and customer engagement, making it highly impactful and novel, while still being relevant to brand strategy professionals interested in innovation.