A closer look at the tech, AI, and open ecosystem behind Tien Kung 3.0’s real-world push
Updated
February 18, 2026 8:03 PM
Humanoid robots working in a warehouse. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK
Humanoid robotics has advanced quickly in recent years. Machines can now walk, balance, and interact with their surroundings in ways that once seemed out of reach. Yet most deployments remain limited. Many robots perform well in controlled settings but struggle in real-world environments. Integration is often complex, hardware interfaces are closed, software tools are fragmented, and scaling across industries remains difficult.
Against this backdrop, X-Humanoid has introduced its latest general-purpose platform, Embodied Tien Kung 3.0. The company positions it not simply as another humanoid robot, but as a system designed to address the practical barriers that have slowed adoption, with a focus on openness and usability.
At the hardware level, Embodied Tien Kung 3.0 is built for mobility, strength, and stability. It is equipped with high-torque integrated joints that provide strong limb force for high-load applications. The company says it is the first full-size humanoid robot to achieve whole-body, high-dynamic motion control integrated with tactile interaction. In practice, this means the robot is designed to maintain balance and execute dynamic movements even in uneven or cluttered environments. It can clear one-meter obstacles, perform consecutive high-dynamic maneuvers, and carry out actions such as kneeling, bending, and turning with coordinated whole-body control.
Precision is also a focus. Through multi-degree-of-freedom limb coordination and calibrated joint linkage, the system is designed to achieve millimeter-level operational accuracy. This level of control is intended to support industrial-grade tasks that require consistent performance and minimal error across changing conditions.
But hardware is only part of the equation. The company pairs the robot with its proprietary Wise KaiWu general-purpose embodied AI platform. This system supports perception, reasoning, and real-time control through what the company describes as a coordinated “brain–cerebellum” architecture. It establishes a continuous perception–decision–execution loop, allowing the robot to operate with greater autonomy and reduced reliance on remote control.
For higher-level cognition, Wise KaiWu incorporates components such as a world model and vision-language models (VLM) to interpret visual scenes, understand language instructions, and break complex objectives into structured steps. For real-time execution, a vision-language-action (VLA) model and full autonomous navigation system manage obstacle avoidance and precise motion under variable conditions. The platform also supports multi-agent collaboration, enabling cross-platform compatibility, asynchronous task coordination, and centralized scheduling across multiple robots.
A central part of the platform is openness. The company states that the system is designed to address compatibility and adaptation challenges across both development and deployment layers. On the hardware side, Embodied Tien Kung 3.0 includes multiple expansion interfaces that support different end-effectors and tools, allowing faster adaptation to industrial manufacturing, specialized operations, and commercial service scenarios. On the software side, the Wise KaiWu ecosystem provides documentation, toolchains, and a low-code development environment. It supports widely adopted communication standards, including ROS2, MQTT, and TCP/IP, enabling partners to customize applications without rebuilding core systems.
The company also highlights its open-source approach. X-Humanoid has open-sourced key components from the Embodied Tien Kung and Wise KaiWu platforms, including the robot body architecture, motion control framework, world model, embodied VLM and cross-ontology VLA models, training toolchains, the RoboMIND dataset, and the ArtVIP simulation asset library. By opening access to these elements, the company aims to reduce development costs, lower technical barriers, and encourage broader participation from researchers, universities, and enterprises.
Embodied Tien Kung 3.0 enters a market where technical progress is visible but large-scale adoption remains uneven. The gap is not only about movement or strength. It is about integration, interoperability, and the ability to operate reliably and autonomously in everyday industrial and commercial settings. If platforms can reduce fragmentation and simplify deployment, humanoid robots may move beyond demonstrations and into sustained commercial use.
In that sense, the significance of Embodied Tien Kung 3.0 lies less in isolated technical claims and more in how its high-dynamic hardware, embodied AI system, open interfaces, and collaborative architecture are structured to work together. Whether that integrated approach can close the deployment gap will shape how quickly humanoid robotics becomes part of real-world operations.
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Where Hollywood magic meets AI intelligence — Hong Kong becomes the new stage for virtual humans
Updated
February 7, 2026 2:18 PM
William Wong, Chairman and CEO of Digital Domain. PHOTO: YORKE YU
In an era where pixels and intelligence converge, few companies bridge art and science as seamlessly as Digital Domain. Founded three decades ago by visionary filmmaker James Cameron, the company built its name through cinematic wizardry—bringing to life the impossible worlds of Titanic, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the Marvel universe. But today, its focus has evolved far beyond Hollywood: Digital Domain is reimagining the future of AI-driven virtual humans—and it’s doing so from right here in Hong Kong.
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“AI and visual technology are merging faster than anyone imagined,” says William Wong, Chairman and CEO of Digital Domain. “For us, the question is not whether AI will reshape entertainment—it already has. The question is how we can extend that power into everyday life.”
Though globally recognized for its work on blockbuster films and AAA games, Digital Domain’s story is also deeply connected to Asia. A Hong Kong–listed company, it operates a network of production and research centers across North America, China and India. In 2024, it announced a major milestone—setting up a new R&D hub at Hong Kong Science Park focused on advancing artificial intelligence and virtual human technologies. “Our roots are in visual storytelling, but AI is unlocking a new frontier,” Wong says. “Hong Kong has been very proactive in promoting innovation and research, and with the right partnerships, we see real potential to make this a global R&D base.”
Building on that commitment, the company plans to invest about HK$200 million over five years, assembling a team of more than 40 professional talents specializing in computer vision, machine learning and digital production. For now, the team is still growing and has room to expand. “Talent is everything,” says Wong. “We want to grow local expertise while bringing in global experience to accelerate the learning curve.”
Digital Domain’s latest chapter revolves around one of AI’s most fascinating frontiers: the creation of virtual humans.
These are hyperrealistic, AI-powered virtual humans capable of speaking, moving and responding in real time. Using the advanced motion-capture and rendering techniques that transformed Hollywood visual effects, the company now builds digital personalities that appear on screens and in physical environments—serving in media, education, retail and even public services.
One of its most visible projects is “Aida”, the AI-powered presenter who delivers nightly weather reports on the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Another initiative, now in testing, will soon feature AI-powered concierges greeting travelers at airports, able to communicate in multiple languages and provide real-time personalized services. Similar collaborations are under way in healthcare, customer service and education.
“What’s exciting,” says Wong, “is that our technologies amplify human capability, helping to deliver better experiences, greater efficiency and higher capacity. AI-powered virtual humans can interact naturally, emotionally and in any language. They can help scale creativity and service, not replace it.”
To make that possible, Digital Domain has designed its system for compatibility and flexibility. It can connect to major AI models—from OpenAI and Google to Baidu—and operate across cloud platforms like AWS, Alibaba Cloud and Microsoft Azure. “It’s about openness,” says Wong. “Our clients can choose the AI brain that best fits their business.”
Establishing a permanent R&D base in Hong Kong marks a turning point for the company—and, in a broader sense, for the city’s technology ecosystem. With the support of the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES) in Hong Kong, Digital Domain hopes to make the city a creative hub where AI meets visual arts. “Hong Kong is the perfect meeting point,” Wong says. “It combines international exposure with a growing innovation ecosystem. We want to make it a hub for creative AI.”
As part of this effort, the company is also collaborating with universities such as the University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University to co-develop new AI solutions and nurture the next generation of engineers. “The goal,” Wong notes, “is not just R&D for the sake of research—but R&D that translates into real-world impact.”
The collaboration with OASES underscores how both the company and the city share a vision for innovation-led growth. As Peter Yan King-shun, Director-General of OASES, notes, the initiative reflects Hong Kong’s growing strength as a global innovation and technology hub. “OASES was set up to attract high-potential enterprises from around the world across key sectors such as AI, data science, and cultural and creative technology,” he says. “Digital Domain’s new R&D center is a strong example of how Hong Kong can combine world-class talent, technology and creativity to drive innovation and global competitiveness.”
Digital Domain’s story mirrors the evolution of Hong Kong’s own innovation landscape—where creativity, technology and global ambition converge. From the big screen to the next generation of intelligent avatars, the company continues to prove that imagination is not bound by borders, but powered by the courage to reinvent what’s possible.