Gasgoo Munich-MICBOT has signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Shenhuo Group, according to a report by Gasgoo.
The two companies will collaborate through various models to explore innovative applications of embodied AI robots in industrial safety and smart manufacturing. A key focus will be establishing industry standards for underground embodied intelligence, aiming to build a suite of replicable, scalable solutions.
A key state-owned enterprise in Henan Province, Shenhuo Group operates across coal, electrolytic aluminum, power, aluminum processing, and advanced materials. With industrial operations capable of producing over 10 million tons of coal and millions of tons of electrolytic aluminum annually, the company maintains a comprehensive safety management system as it drives a full-scale intelligent transformation.
Image Credit: MICBOT
For its part, MICBOT, a specialist in quadruped robots for specialized industrial scenarios, focuses on high-risk and harsh operating environments—such as those requiring magnetic resistance, explosion-proofing, waterproofing, and freeze protection. The company aims to equip 20 million roles deemed unsuitable for human labor within the next three years.
To support this, MICBOT has adopted a "wide-body, short-leg" mechanical design for its hardware, featuring a proprietary "Jinqing" joint module and a pioneering energy recovery battery system to ensure long endurance and high-load capacity in extreme conditions. On the software side, the company has integrated sensing, control, and drive systems. Its proprietary skeletal algorithm leverages reinforcement learning to optimize overall performance, significantly boosting stability and continuous operation capabilities in harsh conditions like strong magnetic fields, high temperatures, and heavy dust.
MICBOT's robotic dogs are already deployed in nearly 1,000 specialized industrial scenarios.
This partnership is poised to accelerate the transition of embodied AI technology in mining from R&D validation to large-scale commercial use. It aims to fill the application gap for intelligent robots in the sector, further driving the smart transformation of coal mining and building a more reliable intelligent safeguard for mine safety.
In May, the General Office of the National Mine Safety Administration and the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued a notice on pilot projects for mine robot application verification. The directive calls for accelerating the R&D and large-scale deployment of mining robots, replacing human labor in dangerous, exhausting, arduous, and dirty roles to enhance intrinsic safety levels in mines.
Driving this is an urgent, genuine demand for intelligent operational equipment in the mining sector. Many underground mines present complex environments with multiple hazards. Reliance on manual labor not only results in lower efficiency but also places significant pressure on safety management. The deployment of embodied AI technology directly addresses these pain points in the industry's transformation.
In this context, the collaboration between the two companies aligns closely with national policy directives promoting the intelligent upgrading of the mining sector.
