Two Y-20B large transport aircraft fl y in the sky. Photo: VCG
A documentary on the domestically developed Y-20 large transport aircraft family, aired by state media on Wednesday evening, revealed that the Y-20B can switch between transport and aerial refueling functions. A pilot said the aircraft could also take on roles including bomber, early warning aircraft and electronic warfare platform. With such modifications, the Y-20B platform offers significant advantages in mission flexibility and support capabilities, a military affairs expert told the Global Times. According to the video released by state broadcaster CCTV News, since the Y-20 was equipped with the domestically developed high-bypass-ratio turbofan WS-20 engine - nicknamed "Chinese heart" - the Y-20B's mission profile has become more flexible. While it is primarily a transport aircraft, it can be quickly converted into an aerial refueling tanker by adding refueling pods and related kits. The line between transport and tanker aircraft is increasingly blurred, and this has significantly expanded the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force's tanker fleet. Previously, a promotional video released by China Military Bugle, an official media account affiliated with the PLA news media center, showed that in 2025, the Y-20B was fitted with the WS-20, making it more powerful, more fuel-efficient, longer-ranged and part of a growing family of aircraft. In the CCTV documentary, Pang Rongqi, a member of an Air Force aviation unit, said: "As a transport aircraft platform, the Y-20 is unique to our country and will play an increasingly important role in the future. The boundaries between transport aircraft and bombers, early warning aircraft, or even electronic warfare aircraft are becoming increasingly blurred. It is possible that all these missions could be accomplished with our transport aircraft platform." Song Zhongping, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Thursday that the key message from this official release is that the Y-20B is a multi-role platform capable of rapid switching between transport and refueling functions. The fully domestically developed Y-20B itself is an integrated transport-tanker platform, embodying the concept of a multi-role tanker transport (MRTT). By equipping different functional pods, it can quickly change roles: With refueling pods, it becomes a tanker; with electronic jamming pods, it becomes an electronic warfare platform; with bombing modules, it could potentially perform bombing missions; and with early warning modules, it can serve as an airborne early warning platform, Song said. It is not uncommon internationally to modify transport aircraft for special roles, including bomber-like missions. In March 2021, the US Air Force converted an MC-130J transport aircraft into a bomber by having it drop a JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) deployment box, according to a Forbes report in May 2021. Thanks to the Y-20's fully indigenous design, Song said, Chinese engineers have a comprehensive understanding of its aerodynamic configuration, airframe structure, flight control and avionics systems. This means that, as long as the technical conditions are met, modifications can be carried out with greater flexibility and tailored to operational needs. Whether it is a "quick-change" multi-role configuration through pod-based modularization, or deeper modifications, such as installing large radar domes for dedicated early warning aircraft or adding more fuel tanks for dedicated tankers, all can be flexibly achieved. Song also said that the Y-20B can quickly switch between transport, tanker and electronic warfare roles by mounting different pods, achieving multi-role capability and greatly enhancing the PLA Air Force's mission flexibility and support efficiency. Its platform potential is vast. It can be deeply modified into dedicated special mission aircraft such as early warning or electronic warfare platforms, filling critical capability gaps in the Air Force. At the same time, it can maintain its basic transport function and, when needed, rapidly transform into other combat platforms through modularization, becoming a true all-rounder. The core value of this flexibility is that it allows rapid reconfiguration based on wartime mission requirements, while in peacetime it can perform routine transport missions, maximizing equipment effectiveness. The Y-20B's service not only represents a leap in China's strategic projection capability but also provides critical support for the PLA Air Force in building a systematic and diversified air capability, Song noted. On July 6, 2016, the Y-20, China's domestically developed next-generation large military transport aircraft, officially entered service with PLA Air Force aviation units. A decade later, the Y-20 has evolved from a single transport platform into a family of models including the Y-20A, Y-20B and YU-20 aerial refueling tanker, with its operations extending to more than 40 countries and regions across four continents, according to the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the aircraft's manufacturer, on its WeChat account in June 2026. 。反倒是往里走两步,那些低着头在传送带前分拣包裹、在工位上拧螺丝、在操作台上做咖啡的机器人,前面站满了人。有人拿着本子记参数,有人追着销售问报价,还有人直接蹲下来看机器人的关节结构。路透社在报道里写了一句话:"会功夫的机器人已经过时了。
C | 但比规模更值得说的,是两个同时发生的变化:一个叫去表演化,一个叫去差异化。前者是好事,说明行业终于从秀场走向了现场。后者就值得警惕了——当所有人都在做同样的事,这个行业可能正在从"探索期"滑向另一个阶段。后空翻没人看了,机器人开始上班去表演化这个变化,是肉眼可见的。宇树的展台上,G1没翻跟头,在跟人打乒乓球。正手、反手、跨步击球,根据来球实时调整姿态。
D | 旁边一台G1在做早餐,从感知、决策到全身运控执行,一条链路自己跑完。H2还在做格斗,但明显不是主角了。越疆带来的第二代人形机器人,演示的是左手拧轴承、右手分拣零件,号称零件公差能做到0.1毫米。同一个展台上,它还能倒柠檬茶、做煲仔饭。星动纪元的星动L7,1米7、55个自由度,现场没秀什么特技,就是让人戴着遥操作设备,手臂摆动、下蹲、弯腰,机器人在另一边精准复刻。它的另一个展区直接搭了条快递输送线,机器人在那抓取、翻面、上输送带,一干就是一整天。珞石的双臂机械臂在复刻工人拧螺丝、装电池;博银合创和法奥联合展出的BW10-Lite,跑速1.5米每秒,双臂负载20公斤,重复定位精度±0.05毫米,面向的是汽车零部件、新能源、3C电子这些实打实的工业场景。
E | 智平方的爱宝机器人在做咖啡、冰淇淋、鸡尾酒,还当了WRC官方礼品店的店员;光象科技演示了单台机器人双工位自主循环作业;星尘智能的绳驱机器人在收拾杂物、拉拉链。你会发现一个共同点:几乎所有展台都在搭"真实工位",而不是搭"舞台"。现场注意到一个细节:在今年场景化演示里,人工介入的频率明显降了。
F | 去年很多展台标配是"急停按钮+工程师随时待命",任务切换要靠人重置系统。
G | 今年呢,泡完茶接着递杯,物料换了规格自己调整抓取姿势,全程不回原点、不重训策略,工程师站旁边插着手看。这不是小进步。从"演给你看"到"自己干给你看",中间隔着一整套工程化能力。
H | 为什么会去表演化?原因不复杂。第一,观众看腻了。跳舞翻跟头这种事,2023年看新鲜,2024年看还行,到2026年你再让机器人跳个舞,大家掏手机拍一张就走,不会多停留一秒。第二,资本和客户不买单了。前两年融资看的是"你能不能走、能不能跳、有没有人形形态",现在投资人进展台第一句话是:"落地了几个场景?多少台在真实运行?ROI怎么算?"星动纪元的人在现场说了句实在话:"特别是物流场景,越来越多客户开始愿意真实地探讨,他会算他的ROI。"第三,技术到了这个阶段,表演已经不是门槛了。
I | 双足行走、跳跃、后空翻,头部公司基本都能做,再卷表演没有意义。真正的门槛变成了:能不能在一个非结构化的真实场景里,长时间、稳定、低成本地把一件事干完。
K | 逛展会的时候我有个很强烈的感觉:从A馆走到C馆,人形机器人看了十几台,闭上眼睛回想,很难说清谁跟谁有什么本质区别。先说形态。本届叫得上名字的人形机器人——宇树G1、优必选Walker S2、银河通用G1、星动纪元L7、星海图Nexo、越疆第二代人形、开普勒、卡诺普、动易科技PHYBOT M1、Vbot ATOM、优理奇wanda2.0、自变量量子系列等——几乎全是"双足+双臂"的标准构型,身高集中在1米6到1米8,自由度普遍30到55个。
L | 有怡科技搞了个"可变形本质人形机器人"T01,主打只复刻双足行走和双臂操作,听着想走差异化路线,但本质上还是双足+双臂,只是简化了头部和腰部。浙江人形的NAVIAI WA1是轮臂式,不算纯双足,但也是双臂操作的变体。
M | 真正形态上有明显差异的,反而是四足、轮式双臂、固定臂这些非人形品类。
N | 但这些,恰恰是热度最低、观众最少的。再说演示任务。
o | 这个更明显。你在这个展台看机器人分拣包裹,走五十米到下一个展台,还在分拣包裹,就是包裹颜色不一样。你在A馆看机器人拧螺丝,到了C馆另一家也在拧螺丝,就是螺丝型号不一样。你看一台在倒茶,另一台在做咖啡,还有一台在做煲仔饭——说白了都是"双臂操作+液体或食物处理"。我粗略数了一下,本届出现频率最高的演示任务,前五名大概是:物流分拣搬运、工业上下料拧螺丝、咖啡茶饮制作、物品收纳整理、遥操作动作复刻。几乎每一家人形机器人公司,至少占了其中两三项。这不是巧合。硬件形态趋同、技术路线趋同,能演示的任务自然也就趋同了。技术路线的趋同更值得说。今年几乎所有头部公司都在讲同一套故事:大模型做感知和决策,端侧小模型做运动控制,遥操作采人类数据做训练,仿真环境放大数据量。银河通用叫"银河星脑",把大脑、小脑、神经控制塞进单一架构;星海图强调"全真实数据训练";星动纪元展示遥操作数据采集;优必选说"懂人比像人更重要",本质上也是多模态感知加语义理解。说法不一样,底层逻辑高度一致。灵巧手也是一个路数。星动纪元的XHAND 1是12个主动自由度、80牛抓握力;XHAND 1 PRO升到21个自由度。灵心巧手的Linker Hand O30是20个全独立主动自由度,月产能4000台,自称全球高自由度灵巧手市场占超八成份额。各家都在卷"全直驱、多自由度、触觉感知",参数表越来越像,区别就是自由度多一个少一个、抓握力大一点小一点。应用场景就更集中了。物流、汽车制造、3C电子,这三个赛道几乎所有公司都在提。博银合创面向汽车零部件、新能源、3C电子;星动纪元重点做物流;越疆讲工业精密作业;优必选说覆盖工业、商业、家庭三大场景,但真正有落地案例的还是工业。所有人都往同几个赛道里挤,因为这几个场景需求最明确、付费意愿最强、标准化程度最高。但问题是,一个赛道能容纳多少家做差不多事情的公司?这里要说清楚一个边界:去差异化不等于没有技术进步。恰恰相反,今年的展品在运动控制精度、任务连续性、场景适应性上,比去年明显提升了。
p | 去差异化说的是,大家进步的方向高度一致,导致最终呈现出来的产品和能力,越来越像。这就像手机行业2012到2015年那段时间:所有厂商都做大屏、触控、安卓系统,参数表越来越像,真正能拉开差距的已经不是"能不能做智能手机",而是供应链成本、品牌渠道、生态服务。
r | 人形机器人的核心零部件——无框力矩电机、谐波减速器、六维力传感器、IMU——供应商就那么几家,大家买一样的东西,组装出来的整机性能自然差不多。就像PC时代所有品牌机都用Intel的CPU、微软的系统,最后差异只能靠外壳和售后。
s | 这也对,但它解释不了:为什么连软件层面、应用层面的差异化也很少?按理说硬件一样,软件和场景应该是差异化的主战场,但现实是大家连做的任务都差不多。还有一种说资本和需求导向。
t | 投资人只认物流、工业制造这几个有明确付费意愿的赛道,客户也只愿意为这几个场景买单,创业公司为了融资和生存,只能往这些方向挤。结果就是所有人都做物流分拣、工业上下料,因为别的方向拿不到钱也卖不出去。这个最现实,但它把问题完全归因于外部环境,忽略了行业自身的发展阶段。
u | 在我看来,去差异化的真正原因,是机器人行业的"探索期"基本结束了。
v | 什么叫探索期?就是大家还在试"人形机器人到底能做什么、应该怎么做"的阶段。这个阶段会出现各种奇奇怪怪的形态和路线:有人做轮式、有人做四足、有人做双足、有人做固定臂加移动底盘,有人用强化学习、有人用模仿学习、有人用传统控制。
w | 百花齐放,也鱼龙混杂。探索期的特点是不确定性极高,谁也不知道哪条路能走通,所以大家各试各的,差异化天然就大。但到了2026年,经过三四年试错,行业基本达成了几个共识:第一,双足人形是终极形态,但短期内轮式和双臂落地性更好;第二,大模型加端侧控制的技术框架是可行的;第三,物流和工业制造是目前最有可能规模化落地的场景。当这些共识形成,探索期就结束了。
x | 大家不再需要"找方向",而是开始"拼执行"——同样的方向、同样的技术路线、同样的目标场景,比谁做得更稳、更便宜、更快交付。拼执行的阶段,差异化天然会缩小。
y | 因为最优解往往只有一个,或者少数几个,大家都会往最优解靠拢。这不是某一家公司的问题,也不是某个创业者缺乏创新,而是行业发展到这个阶段的必然结果。从探索期到淘汰赛,真正的战争才刚开始去差异化意味着什么?意味着机器人行业要开始洗牌了。探索期的竞争逻辑是:谁有新技术、新demo、新故事,谁就能拿到融资、吸引关注。这个阶段,差异化就是生命线,你做的和别人不一样,才有价值。
z | 但淘汰赛的逻辑完全不同。当大家做的事情差不多,竞争的维度就变了。第一是比成本。同样一台人形机器人,你卖20万,我能做到15万,性能还差不多,客户凭什么选你?宇树2025年人形机器人出货量超5500台(不含轮式双臂),智身科技截至2026年6月累计量产超15000台、单月产能突破5000台——这些数字背后,是规模效应带来的成本优势。中小公司如果没有自己的供应链和制造能力,成本根本打不过头部。第二是比交付。客户买机器人不是买一台样机,而是要买一套能在现场跑起来的解决方案。你能不能在客户工厂里完成部署?能不能培训客户的工程师?出了问题能不能24小时响应?这些交付能力,比展台demo的效果重要一百倍。