In the eastern Chinese city of Lianyungang, a five-day exposition in early September drew delegates from 139 countries to witness what may be the most concentrated display of state security technology in the world. China, which has more than doubled its public security technology spending over the past decade, is no longer simply building these tools for itself — it is offering them to the world. From robots that deploy restraint nets to cameras that read the invisible language of the human face, the machines on display raise a question that transcends any single nation: who decides how far th
China's police tech industry showcases AI robots, facial analysis at security expo
The more he struggles, the more painful it gets, the tighter it locks.
Mark
So this expo was really just a trade show, or was there something more significant happening?
Mimi
It was both. On the surface, yes, companies were displaying their products. But the scale matters—2,100 delegates from 139 countries. This wasn't a domestic event. China was showing the world what it has built and what it wants to sell.
Luke
Do we know how many of these technologies are actually in use versus how many are prototypes or concepts? The robodog sounds impressive, but 30 cities across nine provinces—is that widespread adoption or still early stage?
Mimi
Fair question. The robodog has been deployed at major public events and the National Games, so it's not theoretical. But you're right that 30 cities is a fraction of China's total. It's growing, not yet ubiquitous.
Mark
What struck me was the non-lethal focus. The strobe device, the net launcher, the restraint tool. Is China moving away from lethal force in policing?
Mimi
The devices on display certainly emphasize restraint and disorientation over injury. Whether that reflects a broader policy shift or just what companies chose to showcase at an international event—that's harder to say.
Luke
And the micro-expression lie detection technology—30 years in development, now being used in two cities. That's a long runway. But we should be careful about how much we claim it can actually do. The company says it addresses weaknesses in conventional lie detectors, but that's their claim, not independent verification.
Mimi
True. The technology exists and is deployed, but the actual accuracy and reliability—those are questions the reporting doesn't answer.
Mark
The export numbers are striking. Over 20 countries. Does that mean these tools are becoming a standard part of global policing?
Mimi
It means there's demand, at least from some countries. But "over 20 countries" across Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East is still a relatively small fraction of the world's nations.
Luke
And we don't know the volume. One robodog sold to one country counts as an export. We don't have numbers on how many units are actually being used internationally.
Mark
So the real story is that China has built a sophisticated security tech industry and is beginning to export it, but we don't yet know how widely adopted these tools will become.
Mimi
Exactly. This is the beginning of something, not the end of it.
The Pulse
- China's public security tech budget has surged from 10.8 billion yuan in 2015 to 25.5 billion yuan in 2025, signaling a state-level commitment to making surveillance and enforcement a growth industry.
- AI robodogs that can identify threats and fire restraint nets, facial micro-expression analyzers, and sonic disorientation devices reveal how rapidly the boundary between human judgment and machine enforcement is dissolving.
- A police officer's knee injury during a knife attack became the origin story for a restraint spear now distributed to nearly 50,000 units across law enforcement, hospitals, and schools — and exported to three countries.
- Technologies developed in collaboration with the Chinese government are being actively marketed to private security firms and foreign police forces across Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
- The question of whether these exports will normalize a particular model of surveillance-driven policing globally remains open, hinging on the choices of the more than 20 countries already in conversation with Chinese suppliers.
In the eastern Chinese city of Lianyungang, a five-day exposition in early September drew delegates from 139 countries to witness what may be the most concentrated display of state security technology in the world. China, which has more than doubled its public security technology spending over the past decade, is no longer simply building these tools for itself — it is offering them to the world. From robots that deploy restraint nets to cameras that read the invisible language of the human face, the machines on display raise a question that transcends any single nation: who decides how far the watchful eye may reach?
In early September, the city of Lianyungang hosted China's Public Security Tech Expo, a five-day event that drew over 2,100 delegates from 139 countries and made plain that China's security innovations are increasingly destined for export. The most arresting exhibit was a robodog built by Nexwise — a machine capable of recognizing more than 200 threat scenarios and deploying a restraint net in response. Already sold to 30 cities across nine provinces and deployed at the 2025 National Games, the device is now being exported to more than 20 countries, with active negotiations underway with private security providers in Malaysia.
The financial architecture behind this industry is formidable. China's public security technology spending has more than doubled over the past decade, reaching 25.5 billion yuan in 2025, and robotics and embodied AI have been elevated to strategic priorities in the government's 15th Five-Year Plan. The expo made clear this is not a niche sector but a national project.
Other devices on display ranged from the visceral to the sophisticated. A tactical distraction tool emits blinding strobes and a siren louder than a chainsaw — designed to disorient without injuring. A forked restraint spear, invented by a police officer after he was injured in a knife confrontation, has been distributed to nearly 50,000 units and exported to Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan. A lightweight single-person aircraft capable of aerial patrol and mountain rescue rounds out the ground-level toolkit.
The most technically ambitious exhibit was MicroSense Solution, developed over three decades by Tiandy in partnership with the Chinese government. The system reads micro-expressions and extracts physiological data — heart rate, blood pressure, breathing — from video footage alone, offering what its creators describe as a lie-detection method that cannot be gamed by trained suspects. It is already in use by police in two Chinese cities.
Taken together, the expo reflected a strategic decision to position China not merely as a consumer of security technology but as its global architect — leaving other nations to determine how much of that architecture they are willing to adopt.
In early September, the city of Lianyungang in eastern China hosted a showcase of the country's most advanced police technology. The Public Security Tech Expo, which ran from September 7 to 11, displayed machines and devices that represent where law enforcement is heading: autonomous robots that can fire restraint nets, cameras that read micro-expressions to detect deception, lightweight aircraft for aerial patrol, and non-lethal weapons designed to disorient rather than injure. The event drew more than 2,100 delegates from 139 countries, regions, and international organizations, signaling that China's security innovations are no longer just domestic tools—they are becoming exports.
The robodog was perhaps the most striking symbol of this shift. Designed by the Chinese company Nexwise, the AI Patrol Net-launch Robot Dog Pro can recognize and respond to more than 200 different scenarios, from identifying suspicious behavior to detecting outright hostility. Raise a knife in front of it, and the machine will deploy a net to restrain you. It has already been sold to 30 prefecture-level cities across nine provinces and was deployed during the 15th National Games in 2025. Zeng Yuanyuan, managing director of overseas business at Nexwise, explained the company's philosophy at the expo: most embodied AI robots are built for entertainment, but Nexwise wanted to create something that could do real industrial work. The robodog and other Nexwise solutions are now being exported to more than 20 countries across Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. The company is also in active business discussions with private security providers in Malaysia.
The scale of China's investment in this sector is substantial. Public security information technology spending has more than doubled over the past decade, rising from 10.8 billion yuan in 2015 to 25.5 billion yuan—roughly 4.9 billion Singapore dollars—in 2025, a compound annual growth rate of 8.96 percent. Robotics and embodied AI are now listed as strategic priorities in the government's 15th Five-Year Plan, which guides the nation's development through 2030.
Beyond the robodog, the expo displayed other innovations in restraint and detection. The ND30B tactical distraction device, created by the company Nextorch, takes a non-lethal approach to threat management. Rather than exploding, it emits a strobe light as bright as 12 household LED bulbs and a siren louder than a chainsaw—designed to disorient a target without causing physical harm. Police officer Zhang Tengfei, who works at the Xuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau in Jiangsu province, invented the Feiteng Smart Trapper after sustaining a knee injury during a confrontation with a knife-wielding assailant in 2020. The device consists of a spear with a forked head fitted with movable serrated teeth that tighten when a suspect tries to pull away, making escape increasingly painful and difficult. Nearly 50,000 units have been manufactured and distributed to police units, border-control agencies, hospitals, schools, and courts. The device has also been exported to Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan.
Technology is also extending police reach beyond ground level. The ZR-028 lightweight aircraft, developed by Jiangsu Digital Eagle Group, can carry one person weighing up to 226 kilograms and travel at a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour for up to 36 minutes. Fitted with police warning strobes, searchlights, speakers, and equipment such as net launchers and tire-spike deployers, the aircraft is designed for aerial patrols, mountain rescue operations, and rapid personnel transport during emergencies. Overseas buyers purchase the same aircraft without the police equipment for tourism, outdoor sports, and sightseeing.
Perhaps the most technically sophisticated tool on display was MicroSense Solution, developed over more than three decades by the Chinese company Tiandy in collaboration with the Chinese government. The system uses artificial intelligence to analyze micro-expressions in video footage of a person's face. The camera can also detect changes in reflected light as blood flows through the body, extracting physiological data including heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, and breathing rate. Becker Zhang, Tiandy's global solution manager, noted that this addresses a fundamental weakness in conventional lie detectors: suspects can potentially be trained to manipulate those devices. The technology is currently in use by Chinese police in Beijing's Haidian district and Jiaozhou city in Shandong province.
The expo reflected a broader shift in how China views security technology—not as a domestic necessity alone, but as a product for global markets. The devices on display represent three decades of research, millions of yuan in investment, and a strategic decision to position China as a leader in police innovation. Whether these technologies will reshape law enforcement globally, or whether they will remain primarily tools of the Chinese state, depends on how other countries choose to adopt them.
Notable Quotes
Most embodied AI robots are used only for entertainment. But we wanted to design a robot dog that can be put into real industrial usage.— Zeng Yuanyuan, managing director of overseas business at Nexwise
Traditional restraint tools don't provide a reliable, effective or quick way to disarm someone. They were also difficult to deploy and suspects could sometimes escape.— Police officer Zhang Tengfei, Xuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau
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