ZTE ensures 2026 Jiangsu Football City League opening ceremony with 5G-A, powering robot traffic police debut
Pioneering the future of smart sports with the world’s first practical deployment of 5G-A "EasyOn·Robot" private networks for humanoid traffic police
PARTNER CONTENT ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a global leading provider of integrated information and communication technology solutions, together with China Mobile Changzhou, worked with Changzhou Xingyu Co., Ltd., and AiMOGA Robotics to deploy the 5G-A EasyOn·Robot minimalist private network solution for the 2026 Jiangsu Football City League (JSCL) Opening Ceremony, which grandly kicked off at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center, with tens of thousands of fans gathering to witness the new football season of Jiangsu.
The opening ceremony not only featured a variety of cultural and sports performances and competitive events but it also served as a practical platform for the deep integration of technology and sports. This solution was the first practical deployment of the R050 – traffic police humanoids "Chang An" and "Chang Ning" in large-scale sports event support, providing robust support for their thorough involvement in on-site security. The dual-technology empowerment of "high-quality network + intelligent traffic management" provided a significant boost to Jiangsu's status as a benchmark for smart sports events.
Strict requirements for event security and traffic management: Network as the backbone
As a top-tier sports event in Jiangsu Province, JSCL not only serves as an important platform for integrating "sports and technology", but also an important driver for high-quality development of regional sports. To cope with the sharp increase in pedestrian and vehicles around the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center during the opening ceremony, the organizers took the innovative step of deploying "Smart Policemen" – R050 humanoids. This new model of "human-robot collaborative duty" for on-site security and traffic management became one of the highlights of the JSCL opening ceremony.
Two traffic police humanoids were deployed on-site. "Chang Ning" worked at a key intersection near the stadium together with staff, directing traffic and guiding vehicles and pedestrians in an orderly manner. "Chang An" was stationed at the venue entrance, interacting with fans in real-time on topics about team information, live traffic conditions, match predictions, and etc. The Olympic Sports Center was experiencing a high volume of traffic, with concentrated flows of vehicles and pedestrians at both the entrances and intersections. This imposed extremely high demands on the network performance that underpins the robots' fundamental capabilities such as real-time traffic guidance and intelligent interaction.
5G-A EasyOn·Robot Private Network: Zero-error support for flawless robot performance
To meet the complex, mission-critical requirements of security and traffic management at the JSCL opening ceremony, ZTE deployed a customized 5G-A EasyOn·Robot minimalist private network solution, designed around "precise coverage and stable transmission" to ensure the traffic police robots flawlessly completed all tasks.
- Seamless full area coverage, enabling free mobility without blind spots
- As "traffic officers", the robots needed to move frequently and over wide areas between key locations such as intersections and the police posts in the square. ZTE's EasyOn·Robot private network provides a full-coverage, blind-spot-free connectivity foundation. Even when weaving through dense crowds and across large open venues, the "traffic police" could maintain real-time connectivity with the traffic signal system and command platform, feeding real-time traffic conditions back to the cloud knowledge base – truly achieving "compute instantly and smoothly".
- High-efficiency, stable transmission for lag-free Interaction
- Leveraging the high bandwidth and ultra-low latency of the 5G-A network, combined with edge computing and AI-based beam tracking, the EasyOn·Robot private network dynamically and finely allocates resources based on the robots' real-time needs. This not only ensures ultra-fast transmission of massive data but also equips the robots with "quick reactions and instant responses". During intensive interactions with fans and citizens, the robots were able to deliver near-instant voice responses and execute zero-latency motion commands, providing a smooth, natural, and distinctly high-tech interactive experience.
On-site test results showed that the solution supports uplink speeds up to 2 Gbps and downlink speeds up to 6 Gbps, with over-the-air latency consistently below 10 ms and network reliability reaching 99.99%. These highly reliable, deterministic network capabilities underpinned the parallel data transmission and real-time interaction for multiple robots, enabled them to complete their tasks with zero errors and earning widespread praise from the crowd.
From vision to reality: Technology reshapes new event scenarios
The successful deployment of the "Smart Police" R050 humanoids marks a key leap from "technological innovation" to "real-world application". The comprehensive support of 5G-A EasyOn·Robot solution not only delivered an excellent performance at the JSCL opening ceremony, but also effectively addressed the core challenge of managing surging pedestrian and vehicles during major events. It provides a replicable, scalable and highly reliable blueprint for similar scenarios such as large-scale sporting events and public activities. As embodied AI technology continues to advance, robots are expected to see expanding adoption in public services, bringing more convenient and efficient services to the industries and citizens.
Looking ahead, ZTE will continue to work with its partners to further advance and scale the "5G-A millimeter-wave + robot" solution, enabling robots to better serve high-value scenarios in policing, sporting, entertainment and culture. This will accelerate large-scale deployment of robots across multiple fields, drive high-quality industry development, and help usher in a new era of intelligent agents.
Contributed by ZTE.