Tencent launches Robotics X to prop up its AI and robotics

China’s tech giant Tencent is going into robotics with the establishment of the Robotics X laboratory in Shenzhen, the company announced on Thursday. Under the slogan of “Make AI Everywhere,” Tencent has established its core strategy in three areas of artificial intelligence: robotics, general AI and AI+health.

Like its AI Lab, the robotics research lab will be affiliated to Tencent Technology Engineering Group (TEG). The two laboratories aim to support Tencent’s AI efforts. Currently, it is not known what the main focus of Robotics X will be. Tencent vice president Yao Xing said in an earlier interview with Yicai that robotics can cover a wide area from glasses to humanoid robots. They should be defined as a link between the virtual world and the real world, said Yao.

Tencent has been heavily investing in AI medical imaging technology and medical startups. It launched in 2017 the AI Medical Innovation System or AIMIS (觅影 miying in Chinese), an AI-powered diagnostic medical imaging service. The company also launched WeChat Intelligent Healthcare (微信智慧医疗) in 2014.

The company has also announced cooperation with Nature Research, a subsidiary of academic publisher Springer Nature. The deal will include organizing conferences and setting up a medical research team, according to Yicai Global. The news was announced at the  2nd Tencent AI Academic Forum held on Thursday.