IO-AI Tech Demonstrates 10 Robot Hands Under One VR Glove as Shenzhen Pushes Factory Automation
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Jun 17
IO-AI Tech Demonstrates 10 Robot Hands Under One VR Glove as Shenzhen Pushes Factory Automation
2 articles · Updated · WIRED · Jun 17
Summary
10 humanoid robot hands from different companies mirrored a reporter’s finger movements instantly at IO-AI Tech’s Shenzhen-area office, showing how one motion-tracking glove can control multiple robot forms.
The startup pairs VR headsets, handheld controllers and body sensors to let workers remotely stock shelves, pick items and handle factory tasks while collecting training data for future autonomous robots.
One trial with a Chinese convenience-store chain had the reporter using grippers to move medication boxes, while other operators guided Unitree humanoids through apartment tasks such as removing and folding a shirt.
Shenzhen’s dense manufacturing base is helping IO-AI refine prototypes and win local partners, including Jack Sewing Machines, which is training two-armed robots to automate manual jobs like ironing shirts on existing lines.
IO-AI’s founders argue teleoperation offers an incremental path to autonomy—similar to self-driving cars—by generating task-specific data as China’s low-cost robot makers expand into real workplace deployments.