Jiang Xinsong

Who he was

In 1972, at a time when almost no one in China took robotics seriously, Jiang Xinsong proposed building robots. It was a bold, almost lonely idea — but he spent the next two decades proving it. His team completed China's first industrial robot in 1980, then built China's first 6,000-metre untethered underwater vehicle, pushing the country's robotics capability from zero to something real.

Jiang served as chief scientist of the automation domain of the national 863 Program — the state science initiative that would fund and coordinate much of China's early high-tech research. From that position he nurtured a generation of researchers, including the students who would later carry robotics from the lab into the market.

Why he matters

Jiang Xinsong is the root of China's robotics family tree. Nearly every early institution and founder in this industry traces back to his lab and his students. He died of overwork in 1997 — three years before the company that would carry his legacy, SIASUN (新松), was founded in his name.