A unique auction has sparked a wave of online excitement. The Lingtong Nian NIA-F01 humanoid robot started at a starting price of 1 yuan. After 11,693 online bidders, it was finally sold for 10,580 yuan, a 5.8% premium. This AI product, hailed as the "world's first girl group robot," pioneered the commercialization of desktop-level humanoid robots with its sleek 56-centimeter frame and 34 degrees of freedom.
The robot's technological core is astounding. Its ECE multimodal emotional resonance engine captures micro-expressions through binocular cameras and analyzes voice and intonation with a matrix microphone, achieving millisecond-level synchronization of expression, voice, and movement. Its skin-friendly silicone material and interchangeable face design allow users to customize the appearance and personality of their "digital companion." Notably, just three days prior to the auction, the robot had already made a splash at the 2025 World Robot Conference, performing a demanding dance performance as a member of a girl group robot.
This market enthusiasm reflects the industry's development. This year's World Robot Conference brought together over 200 companies and over 1,500 exhibits, with the number of humanoid robots on display surging 300% year-on-year. As Du Guangda, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, noted, the industry is at a critical stage of transitioning from "moving things in the lab" to "putting things into production" in the factory. The successful auction of the Lingtong robot not only validates the market potential of consumer-grade humanoid products but also heralds a new era of large-scale application of emotionally interactive robots.
