A wheeled-and-legged robot guide dog goes on show in Beijing

The Hangzhou-based Zhiyuan Research Institute showed a guide robot called Xiaoyuan at the China Care and Rehabilitation Expo in Beijing on 4 September 2026. It is built for people who are blind or have low vision, and its distinguishing feature is that it does not commit to one way of moving: wheels carry it quietly along flat ground, and four legs take it up stairs.

The institute claims outdoor positioning accurate to within 30 centimetres and obstacle-avoidance success of at least 99 per cent indoors and 96 per cent outdoors. It says the robot connects to disability-federation services and to remote human volunteers who can assist a user through a live link. Zhiyuan is affiliated with China North Industries Group, a state defence contractor.

The gap it is aimed at is supply. Live guide dogs take years to breed and train, and the South China Morning Post frames the launch against a severe shortage of them in China.

What was shown is an expo unit. No price, no ship date and no independent trial of the navigation figures were given, and the claimed rates are the institute’s own.