(Yicai) Aug. 22 -- Just over a month after acquiring the core assets of French humanoid robotics company Aldebaran, Chinese smart border port equipment supplier Maxvision Technology unveiled plans to develop trendy toy robot products.

Maxvision will set up a new subsidiary in Shenzhen that will develop and sell innovative artificial intelligence-powered robot toy products for intelligent companionship, emotional interaction, and emotional value, based on the core assets of Aldebaran, the Shenzhen-based company announced yesterday.

The move aims to achieve the organic integration of AI, humanoid robot technology, and toy innovation, Maxvision noted, without revealing any further details about the products.

Maxvision’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Hong Kong acquired the core assets of Aldebaran, including key technological assets and intellectual property rights, in July at a bankruptcy asset auction for EUR900,000 (USD1 million) to expand the application scenarios of humanoid robots and create favorable conditions for its global expansion.

Aldebaran’s most iconic humanoid robot design for education and research is Nao. Equipped with over 100 multimodal sensors, Nao is capable of advanced environmental perception and natural interaction with humans. It has been used for teaching and research by thousands of universities and research institutions worldwide.

Aldebaran also owns Pepper, one of the world’s earliest commercial robots capable of recognizing human emotions, which has been widely applied in fields such as commercial services, healthcare, and elderly care.

The trendy toy industry is in a golden period of development, evolving from a niche interest to a global cultural phenomenon. Thanks to the worldwide popularity of its products, Chinese toy maker Pop Mart has rapidly grown from an unknown startup to a global industry giant.

Maxvision’s shares [SHE: 002990] closed 0.5 percent up at CNY32.43 (UD4.52) in Shenzhen today, after earlier gaining as much as 2.5 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione