In the scorching heat of August in southern Sichuan, temperatures near 40 degrees Celsius bake the land at the "Jia Guo Modern Agriculture" citrus and plum orchard in Yangchun Town, Jiang'an County, Yibin. Orchard production manager Yang Biwu stood in the shade, watching a four-legged robot navigate between the fruit trees with remarkable ease. This agricultural robotic dog, named "GOZ-01", traverses the uneven, hilly terrain effortlessly on its four bionic legs. A multimodal perception gimbal camera on its back rotates slowly, scanning the leaves of each citrus tree as multispectral sensors capture abnormal characteristics under different light spectrums, identifying potential pest risks and growth anomalies, while LiDAR simultaneously maps the orchard in three dimensions. When it detects a critical area, the robot stops to check air temperature, humidity, and soil conditions using its environmental sensors, transmitting the data back in real-time.

"Before we had this robotic dog, it would take at least four workers a full day to complete pest inspections and spraying," Yang Biwu said in a thick Sichuan accent. "Now it can finish what four people do in just half a day." In this orchard spanning over 1,150 mu, Yang cultivates more than 800 mu of citrus. Previously, pest patrols, drip irrigation checks, worker supervision, and weeding all demanded significant manpower. Now, a single robotic dog handles most inspection tasks: checking for drip pipe leaks, identifying early signs of pest and disease damage, monitoring worker performance, and even patrolling the fields in 40-degree heat, working alongside ground-based plant protection robots and drones to form an integrated "aerial and ground" operation system.

"It can track the size and color changes of the fruit at every growth stage," Yang said, pointing to the "GOZ-01" at work. "Before, we had to check each one manually. Now I can see everything right from my phone." This is not a scene from a science fiction film, nor a lab demo. The "GOZ-01" working in the citrus grove comes from Hexin Power (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd., a startup founded less than a year ago. Behind it lies a transformation that is reshaping the global agricultural landscape.

China's Overtaking Moment

On February 3, 2026, the day before the "Start of Spring", the Central Document No. 1 was officially released. This pivotal policy for the first year of the "15th Five-Year Plan" marked a historic first by mentioning drones, the Internet of Things, and robotics, explicitly calling for "developing new quality productive forces in agriculture tailored to local conditions, integrating artificial intelligence with agricultural development, and expanding application scenarios for drones, IoT, and robotics." The policy tailwinds have arrived, but those who truly seize the opportunity always arrive ahead of the wind.

Zhao Feng, President of Hexin Power, has spent 14 years deeply engaged in strategic agricultural investment, having managed multiple cross-border projects including the China-Africa Agricultural Free Trade Zone. His long-term frontline work overseas gave him an early glimpse of the dramatic shift in agricultural labor structures, sparking a premonition that a turning point in history was approaching.

"The labor structure in agriculture is undergoing massive changes," Zhao said with conviction during an interview. "This shift is dramatic whether in Europe, Southeast Asia, or China. Over the next 5 to 10 years, many workers will exit the agricultural market, potentially creating a labor shortage gap." This assessment is far from exaggerated. Data shows that as of April 2025, while China's rural population stands at approximately 465 million, only 250 to 270 million are actually engaged in farming, with the average age of full-time farmers reaching 53.1 years. In major rice and wheat-producing regions, that average approaches 60, and less than 5% of workers are under 35. The new generation of farmers shows little interest in traditional farming methods. Globally, developed nations face equally severe agricultural labor aging and gaps, compounded by high labor costs—the average annual cost of one agricultural worker in Europe or the US reaches 300,000 to 400,000 RMB.

"This is a global challenge," Zhao noted. While numerous agricultural technology companies exist in China, almost none have fully committed to the "embodied intelligence" track in agriculture. Why is Zhao willing to be the "first to eat the crab"? His answer is direct: "The application of embodied intelligence in agriculture is more urgently needed than in any other industry."

Undeniably, "large country, small farms" remains China's fundamental agricultural reality, and a gap persists between Chinese agriculture and that of developed nations like Europe, the US, and Japan. However, the inflection point for an overtake may lie precisely at the intersection of AI and robotics technology. "Take the automotive industry—we studied Germany for decades but could never match their internal combustion engine technology. Yet once we pivoted to the new energy track, we achieved comprehensive leadership in under 10 years," Zhao explained. "The same logic applies to agriculture. Catching up on traditional agricultural machinery would take years, but on the 'embodied intelligence' track, China holds advantages in AI and possesses the world's most complete robotics supply chain—the situation is fundamentally different."

He emphasized a critical point: "The US has an edge in AI, but it lacks a robotics supply chain. Only China has a complete one, and our AI capabilities are also strong. This dual advantage is China's competitiveness." The data supports this view. The global agricultural AI market reached $4.7 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $46.6 billion by 2034, a compound annual growth rate of 26.3%. In this rapidly expanding market, whoever leads simultaneously in technology, cost, and application scenarios will control the narrative.

Hexin Power's strategy, in Zhao's words, is to "use certainty to counter uncertainty"—rather than pursuing every "first," the company scans globally validated business scenarios, leverages China's supply chain to rapidly produce cost-effective products, and only after capturing market share does it invest heavily in deep iterative R&D. "If a European company builds a product and sells it for $100,000, we first validate the market demand, then use China's supply chain to bring the cost down to $20,000—that's our first priority," Zhao said.

90 Days to a ¥500 Million Valuation: What Are Investors Betting On?

Hexin Power was registered in Shenzhen in November 2025. Within 90 days, the company completed a seed round of tens of millions of RMB at a post-money valuation of ¥500 million. The investors—Yibin Gaoxin Frontier Technology Industry Venture Capital Fund and Xiamen Guosheng Zhui Chuang Robotics Industry Venture Capital Fund—are two state-backed industrial capital entities that placed their bets simultaneously. This pace is unprecedented in the agricultural technology sector. However, Zhao believes "the valuation isn't the most important thing; it represents the market's expectations and recognition of us."

Capital's enthusiasm stems from an assessment of technical barriers. From its inception, Hexin Power established a full-stack self-developed "hardware + algorithms" technical path. On the hardware front, the company leverages expertise in high-speed digital motor technology, conducting secondary development around robotic joint power requirements. On the algorithm front, rather than adopting generic integrated solutions, Hexin Power has deeply customized its approach for agricultural scenarios. This dual-layer technical structure of "self-developed hardware + vertical scenario algorithms" gives the company's products a differentiated competitive edge and lays a solid foundation for global market expansion.

Throughout the interview, Zhao repeatedly emphasized one point: "We are an agricultural embodied intelligence company, not an agricultural robotics company." The distinction between the two is key to understanding Hexin Power's technical roadmap. Traditional agricultural machinery is essentially "mechanics + programmed control." Whether it's John Deere's autonomous tractors or Kubota's rice transplanters, they execute fixed actions based on preset routes and parameters. Agricultural robots go a step further, sensing their environment and making adaptive adjustments. But "embodied intelligence" is entirely different.

"Embodied intelligence means an intelligent agent with a physical body," Zhao explained. "AI was only truly deployed onto robotic platforms last year. Previously, teaching a robot to work in a field might take 5 years of engineers writing code. Now with AI, it can be achieved in 3 months." Hexin Power's core moat is not a specific robot model but an agricultural intelligence system centered around "Hexie". This system integrates multimodal perception, agricultural knowledge reasoning, intelligent decision-making, and robotic execution to build a closed loop covering "perception-cognition-decision-execution-feedback".

The perception layer collects crop data through multiple sensors (multispectral, visible light, infrared, gas detection, temperature/humidity, etc.). The cognition and decision layer uses agricultural large models to analyze pest conditions, growth status, and environmental parameters, then makes operational decisions. The execution layer dispatches commands to various robotic terminals—robotic dogs for inspection, drones for spraying, ground robots for weeding, and tillers for soil preparation. "We feed large amounts of real data to the large models. The more data they receive, the more accurate their insights become, and the more efficient and precise their problem-solving when dealing with different crops and scenarios."

Currently, Hexin Power's product line covers plant protection drones, orchard protection robots, weeding robots, and inspection robotic dogs, spanning the entire "cultivation, planting, management, harvesting" process. The company has developed over 20 products and plans to expand to more than 100 by year-end. "While our product line looks extensive, they all share a single technology foundation," Zhao noted. "What matters most is the prediction phase—can visual recognition predict pest outbreaks in advance? Can temperature and humidity sensors predict water or nutrient deficiencies?"

This logic has been validated in the Yibin orchard. Data collected daily by robotic dogs, analyzed by large models, precisely guides drone and ground robot operations—which areas need spraying, how much pesticide to use, and what formula to apply are all AI-driven decisions, no longer dependent on human experience. Another key breakthrough of agricultural embodied intelligence is enabling robots to truly "work the land" rather than merely performing impressive demonstrations at exhibitions. Hexin Power's R&D team is embedded in the Yibin orchard, insisting that every test happens in real fields because "you can't measure anything meaningful in a lab."

The "R&D in China, Applications Globally" Business Logic

Hexin Power's business model was distinctive from day one. While most Chinese tech companies mature their domestic market before going global, Hexin Power has taken the opposite approach. "We've been globally oriented from the very first day, not because we're abandoning the domestic market, but because agriculture has its own unique characteristics," Zhao explained. This "uniqueness" has two layers. First, there's the "rigid demand" in overseas markets—farmers in Europe, the US, Australia, and South America each manage thousands of acres with extreme labor scarcity, making automated equipment a necessity. Moreover, overseas farm owners have strong purchasing power—a plant protection drone that sells for under ¥100,000 domestically can fetch double overseas, and farmers are willing to pay. Second, China's supply chain offers an "absolute advantage"—the world's most complete robotics supply chain, combined with the Greater Bay Area's talent pool, gives the company overwhelming cost control.

This logic is not just theoretical. Zhao's team's overseas experience stems from practical expertise accumulated across multiple industries. "We have a 'global scanning' methodology. We first map global demand—suppliers and import/export partners relay requests, like European clients needing a device to solve a specific problem. We receive 100 such requests and filter out which ones China's industrial capabilities can quickly satisfy with minor modifications—that's the optimal business model: small investment, rapid response, quick deployment," Zhao said.

In March, Zhao led a delegation to Morocco. After hearing the product presentation, the Moroccan Exporters Association immediately brought in royal family members to broker a deal, eager to sign an agreement right away—not merely as agents, but for a joint venture to build a factory. "Some overseas regions are absolutely starving for cutting-edge technology applications," Zhao laughed. "I practically had to 'escape' from that trip."

If overseas markets are Hexin Power's "profit pool," then China serves as its "testing ground." Zhao stressed that all products are first validated domestically—scenario adaptation, stability testing, and compliance certification—before being deployed in large-scale overseas farms. Currently, Hexin Power's work in Yibin extends far beyond demonstrating a robotic dog. In partnership with Yibin Agricultural Development Group, the company is establishing demonstration sites in 5-7 townships across the city's three districts and seven counties, deploying intelligent terminal equipment and building agricultural socialized service centers.

Why establish these service centers? Gu Lei, General Manager of the Yibin Agricultural Socialized Service Center, told reporters that Hexin Power's team spent six months visiting all three districts and seven counties, uncovering a core pain point: "agricultural machinery can't easily access the fields." Gu noted that Yibin's typical hilly terrain—small plots, steep slopes, and diverse crops—makes it difficult for traditional machinery to cover such complex landscapes. Combined with labor shortages and intense physical demands, the challenges are significant. Hexin Power's solution isn't just selling a machine; it's offering a comprehensive intelligent terminal solution for the entire cultivation process, helping farmers reduce costs and increase efficiency.

For Hexin Power, Yibin's significance extends even further. The region's hilly topography closely resembles agricultural terrains in Southeast Asia and Central Asia, meaning solutions proven here can be directly replicated in overseas markets. "Our pilot in Yibin is designed to let the market test how well the equipment adapts to hilly environments and how acceptable it is to farmers," Gu said. "Only when the market approves is it truly good."

The "AI in the Fields" Era Has Arrived

2026 can be called the "policy super-year" for agricultural AI. At the start of the year, drones and robots were named for the first time in the Central Document No. 1. In June, the State Council issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for Accelerating Agricultural and Rural Modernization," which for the first time dedicated a section to the "AI + Agriculture" initiative, calling for "promoting the implementation of high-quality application scenarios in biological breeding, production management, pest monitoring, disease prevention, and yield prediction." This was followed by the approval of 8 industry standards in agricultural AI, covering intelligent equipment, agricultural large models, agricultural robots, and sensor data interfaces—establishing the "yardstick" for standardized industry development.

From July 30-31, the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs held two consecutive days of meetings dedicated to accelerating agricultural AI development. From the Central Document No. 1's positioning, to the "15th Five-Year Plan's" dedicated section, to industry standard establishment, to the two-day mobilization—policy signals have cascaded with increasing intensity, elevating agricultural AI to an unprecedented national level.

Policy is in place, but the real test lies in the fields. The Ministry's repeated emphasis on "vigorously promoting the transformation and application of agricultural AI," "creating rich and diverse application scenarios," and "supporting pilot programs in qualified regions" all point to one core question: how to get AI technology through the "last mile" and truly rooted in farmland, empowering agricultural quality and farmer income growth.

Currently, Hexin Power's products and solutions are deployed in test farms across China, the Middle East, South America, and Africa, effectively addressing long-standing industry pain points including structural agricultural labor shortages, low operational standardization, and over-reliance on experiential judgment in plant protection. By deeply integrating top research institutions' algorithm models with high-performance robotic platforms, Hexin Power is delivering quantifiable, replicable intelligent productivity upgrades for large-scale farms. As global food security concerns intensify and the demand for sustainable agricultural intensification grows, market demand for intelligent solutions that improve land productivity, resource efficiency, and labor productivity continues to rise. Hexin Power is redefining the capabilities of agricultural robots through "embodied intelligence," and through rapidly deployable robot clusters adaptable to diverse crops and terrains, is progressively breaking down market barriers in high-end agricultural equipment, injecting Chinese innovation as a core driving force for global agricultural modernization.

As the interview drew to a close, one final question was asked: how would Zhao describe Hexin Power's vision in a single sentence? He paused for several seconds, then spoke more slowly than at any other point in the conversation, yet with more weight: "We hope to use ultimate technology to liberate people's hands, giving our people the time and space to create a better life." "The dream is big, but the path must be walked step by step," he added.

From an office in Shenzhen to a citrus orchard in Sichuan, from royal chambers in Morocco to digital-smart planting test bases in Nigeria, this robotic dog named "GOZ-01" will use its four bionic legs to measure the global journey of Chinese agricultural technology. Back in the Yibin orchard, under 40-degree heat, the robotic dog continues its tireless patrol. It needs no lunch breaks, no wages, and never complains about the heat. Yang Biwu stood before an electronic screen displaying real-time orchard data—pest risk levels, soil moisture, crop growth cycles—and smiled: "With this dog, I can watch over the entire orchard from inside my house."