BEIJING, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech company Megvii recently launched an AI-powered internet of things system that is able to operate multiple robotics at the same time.

The system named Hetu, or River Map, aims to provide more convenient solutions for robotic network deployment and human-machine coordination, according to the company.

Megvii has already applied the robotics operating system to help its business partners in the logistics sector, such as Alibaba's online shopping platform Tmall. The system is operating 500 robots in the warehouse of Tmall's online supermarket, which has greatly improved work efficiency, said Megvii.

Tang Wenbin, Megvii's co-founder and CTO, said that the company plans to connect more than 1 billion robots within five years.

Founded in 2011, the Beijing-based tech startup owns the facial recognition developer Face++ and has been renowned for providing facial recognition services. It raised 460 million U.S. dollars in late 2017.

China's supply chain was worth an estimated 284.7 trillion yuan (42 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2018 and is expected to grow by 10 percent in 2019, according to Research Center for Forecasting Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.