(Yicai) March 21 -- China will establish an open fund to provide financial support to outstanding young scholars conducting fundamental research and exploring cutting-edge technologies in the field of humanoid robots.

The fund will have a scale of CNY3 million (USD410,000), which will gradually increase, Xing Boyang, director of the research and development system at the National-Local Joint Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, told Yicai today. Each project will receive CNY300,000 to CNY500,000 (USD41,375 to USD68,960).

The National Local-Joint Humanoid Robot Innovation Center was jointly established by leading enterprises in the robotics industry and public institutions. It has offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

"The initial aim of this open fund is to support young individuals from universities and research institutions with innovative ideas in the field of embodied intelligence technology by providing research funding," Xing noted.

The approval and evaluation process for the first batch of projects is expected to be completed by June.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione