Switzerland FHNW School of Business Explores Educational Robotics and Embodied AI with Hiwonder in Shenzhen
On the morning of 7 September, a faculty and student delegation from the School of Business at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) visited the Shenzhen Robotics Association. They were received by Bi Yalei, Director of the Industrial Development Center at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Association.
The group came from FHNW's MSc in Business Information Systems. The point of the trip was not a classroom case. It was to stand in Shenzhen - often called "China's Silicon Valley" - and see how hardware, software, and a dense supply chain sit next to each other.
Group picture of FHNW School of Business and Hiwonder.
The visit opened in the SIAT exhibition hall. The delegation walked through the Institute's work in robotics, intelligent systems, and the path from lab result to product - a short map of how Shenzhen turns research into machines that leave the building.
Roundtable at SIAT: association briefing followed by company presentations.
Why Shenzhen Is Not Only Software
In the discussion, Secretary-General Bi described SIAT and the Association's role as an industry platform. He drew a simple contrast. Silicon Valley is famous for software. Shenzhen is called China's Silicon Valley because it does both: a software stack and one of the world's most complete hardware chains. Component makers and assembly sit close enough that a sketch can become a sample the same day. That density, he said, is why listed robotics firms could grow here.
Member companies then took the floor. Hiwonder presented its open-source AI robotics education line: robots and courses from K-12 Scratch through Python, Linux, ROS 2, and NVIDIA Jetson at university level. The message was the same one on the screen in the room - lower the barrier so students can apply embodied AI on a real machine, not only read about it.
Hiwonder on stage at SIAT: education mission, in-house servos and algorithms, and a wide product matrix.
ROSOrin Pro as the University Example
The working example was ROSOrin Pro, Hiwonder's university robot car. See with a 3D depth camera. Locate with TOF LiDAR and SLAM. Hear with an AI voice module. Grasp with a 6-DOF arm. Move on a metal Mecanum chassis. Think on Jetson for onboard AI and STM32 for motors and servos in real time.
That split matters for a business-school audience as much as for engineers. A large model can write a plan. Embodied AI is the plan on a body that maps a room, avoids a person, and picks up a block. Students do not have to build the car first. They apply vision, navigation, and an agent on hardware that already exists.
ROSOrin Pro: a robotic kit for university students learning embodied AI.
After the slides, FHNW students and faculty gathered around the robot.
The Q&A stayed on three threads: where the robotics industry is going, how education and research use these platforms, and how a Swiss school and a Shenzhen manufacturer might work together. The room was a business-information-systems cohort standing next to a real car - which is the point of the visit.
Hiwonder thanks the Shenzhen Robotics Association and SIAT for the invitation, and the FHNW School of Business for the time in the room. We will keep the door open for teaching use, student projects, and a next conversation on embodied AI in class.