SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 30, 2026 — Maxvision welcomed a delegation led by Zhou Changjiu, Vice President of the RoboCup Federation and President of RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP), for discussions on expanding NAO's role in international robotics competitions beyond football.

Maxvision Chairman Qu Lei and Senior Vice President Lai Shiwu met with the delegation to discuss developments in embodied robotics, international competition opportunities and the NAO platform's future development.

Returning to Maxvision a year after his previous visit, Zhou toured the company's new showroom and reviewed its latest progress in robotics research, manufacturing and deployment. He also congratulated Maxvision on its contribution to the successful opening of the New Huanggang Port and other smart border crossings.

Exploring Competitions Beyond Football

During the meeting, Zhou reviewed RoboCup and RCAP events held since August 2025 and shared insights into the needs emerging across countries, competition formats and application settings.

He highlighted NAO’s strengths in safety, interaction and open architecture, expressing interest in closer collaboration with Maxvision. Both sides explored opportunities to introduce competition formats beyond robot football, broadening NAO’s participation in international events and exchanges.

Strengthening NAO’s Development, Production and Support

Qu congratulated the organizers on the successful delivery of the competition series and outlined Maxvision’s work since acquiring NAO’s core assets.

The company has established robotics research and development centers in China and France, bringing together the original French NAO team’s design expertise with China’s engineering capabilities and established supply chain.

NAO’s production line is now operational, supporting a reliable product supply. Maxvision has also established a global NAO service center at its Central China headquarters to provide timely after-sales support to users worldwide.

Safety at the Core of Product Development

Qu shared progress in NAO applications including support for autism rehabilitation and K–12 education. He emphasized that safety remains central to the platform’s development and deployment, enabling users to interact with the robots with confidence.

Maxvision will continue developing applications around specific user needs, with a focus on delivering practical benefits in everyday settings.

Qu also outlined plans to expand NAO into a broader product family spanning entry-level, standard and advanced models. The planned range is intended to serve a wider variety of applications, while ongoing development of next-generation hardware and simulation platforms will support new competition formats, education, research and industry use.

He also introduced NAONAO, the family’s first character-based AI companion toy, which was recently unveiled and is scheduled to go on sale on November 11 during China’s Singles’ Day shopping festival.

The visit provided a basis for further discussions on competition formats and applications. Maxvision plans to work with international competition organizers and users to explore new opportunities for NAO, supported by its expanding development, manufacturing and service capabilities.