Physical AI × OpenClaw Hackathon Combines Robotic Arms with AI Agents in Shenzhen

A Physical AI hackathon in Shenzhen put OpenClaw grippers and AI agents in the same room as 25 XLeRobots and 10 3D printers.

The event challenged participants to build, train, and hack real robots using zero-code teleoperation via the MakerMods App, combined with leading VLA models including pi0.5, GR00T N1, SmolVLA, and ACT through the LeRobot pipeline.

Six competition tracks covered hardware modification, sim-to-real transfer, OpenClaw applications, and industrial pick-and-place scenarios. Participants could enter projects targeting OpenClaw integrations specifically.

The hackathon combined embodied AI (physical robots) with the OpenClaw agent framework, signaling growing interest in connecting AI agent orchestration to real-world hardware beyond software workflows.