(Yicai) May 12 -- Shanghai is full of vitality and provides great support for young entrepreneurs, according to the chief executive and founder of Chinese humanoid robots startup Unitree Robotics.

"Shanghai is very friendly to young people," Wang Xingxing said at the sixth Shanghai Y50 Forum for Innovation and Entrepreneurship held on May 10. "There are various opportunities for financial support, technology competitions, and contacts with local industry."

Wang noted that when pursuing a master's degree at Shanghai University in 2015, he took part in a science and technology innovation competition and won CNY80,000 (USD11,055). "This was the first pot of gold that my company and I earned, and I am really grateful for the opportunities the city has given us."

The Shanghai Y50 Forum for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and other similar events provide an excellent platform for young people who have just graduated from school, Wang said. They enable them to better understand society and get in touch with potential customers, resource providers, and investors, Wang added, noting that this is the best opportunity offered to young people.

Unitree Robotics chose developing humanoid robots as its main business because they are the general robots with the simplest structure, Wang pointed out. They are also convenient for data collection, provide more emotional value, and help complete various tasks requiring human handling, Wang added.

Artificial intelligence technology is a data-driven technology that requires sufficient data collection for training, Wang said. "It is most convenient to adapt the data collected by humans to humanoid robots, while it is very challenging to adapt it to other types of robots."

The biggest difficulty faced by the robotics industry is not with hardware but that the unified end-to-end AI is still not good enough, according to Wang. "Whoever can develop end-to-end AI will be the strongest robot and AI company," Wang pointed out.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev