The story of Chinese engineer Howard Huang is like a science fiction film turning into reality. When the Chinese robot ‘Tian Kung Ultra’ won the gold medal in the 100-meter race at the world’s first humanoid robot games recently held in Beijing, the whole world was stunned. But behind this victory was the special technology that gave these machines human vision through 3-D vision sensors. It was developed by Huang’s company, Orbbec. He founded this company in 2013. Huang, who had completed his engineering from Beijing University and the National University of Singapore, once only wrote research papers. The 2004 film ‘I, Robot’ changed his perspective. He left his academic career and started doing research for factories. His work has made him an overnight hero in the world of robotics. Regarding his innovation, Huang says, We want to give robots a vision that is even better than humans. He says that our company makes cameras that recognize not only color but also depth. This allows robots to navigate like humans in complex environments. Orbbec’s success can be gauged from the fact that this company holds a 70% share of 3D vision sensors in the mobile service robotics market of China and South Korea. Among the company’s major clients are fintech giant and Jack Ma-led ‘Ant Group’. These companies use Orbbec’s cameras for facial recognition, i.e., face-based payments. Read also: Top 5 robots stole the show at India AI Summit However, Huang’s full focus is on creating human-like robots. His company is not only manufacturing sensors but has also developed the capacity to assemble one lakh autonomous mobile robots annually. They are now building their second factory in Vietnam to meet the demand of the American market. In the first nine months of 2025, the company made a profit of 90 crore, which was a loss of 140 crore rupees a year earlier. Revenue stood at 938 crore, double compared to the previous year. The surge in the company’s shares made Huang a billionaire. By mid-January, his total wealth was estimated at around 15 thousand crore rupees.
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– The market for AI-powered humanoids is expected to grow rapidly due to advanced sensors, potentially reaching $7.5 trillion by 2050.
– These sensors are going to be widely used in factory tasks, cleaning service robots, and ‘human-care’ bots that look after the elderly.
– The combination of Lidar and 3D vision sensors is paving the way for accurate long-range navigation and recognition for self-driving cars and drones.
– Large-scale production of these components in China could halve the cost of manufacturing humanoid robots in the next 5-10 years, making this technology highly accessible for common use.
– The integration of these vision sensors with generative AI and smart AI chips is making robots more sensitive and intelligent towards their environment.
