|
Running of the Robots
Humanoid robots are getting better fast. Despite the faceplants, China's proving to be a very serious player.
|
| |||||||||||||||
 |
The humanoid robots running in China looked plainly ridiculous. One toppled and faceplanted, with its legs flopping behind as it smashed the floor. Another hooked an abrupt 90-degree turn, sending a trainer flying as it slammed into a boundary and broke apart. Others staggered and stumbled, sitting down on the course and giving up.
But as China ran the first humanoid-robot half-marathon last Saturday, it served as a double wake-up call. First, these bots are getting better, much better, and fast. Despite the flops, six robots finished the course, including one in a respectable two hours and 40 minutes, with time for battery changes included. Second, as the humanoid robotics field progresses, China is becoming a very serious player.
“For ordinary people, a half marathon is an extremely challenging sport and everyone gets exhausted. But robots can continue on by replacing the battery,” Hang Qian, a 29-year-old Beijing resident, told the Wall Street Journal after narrowly beating the fastest bot.
If we look back at the running of the robots, it’ll likely be a signifier of China’s strength in the field. Though the race was partly a propaganda effort, it delivered. Tesla’s Optimus did not participate, and has only appeared in a demo setting so far. And elsewhere in the U.S., where trade restrictions were meant to provide an advantage for core tech, there’s been no similar public demonstration of humanoid capabilities.
China is making a compelling move in humanoid robotics because it’s the place where stuff gets built, said Hong Kong-based analyst Grace Shao in a recent Big Technology Podcast interview. By making scanners, TVs, batteries, and all forms of electronics, China has been able to combine engineering know-how, supply-chain advantages, energy, and cheap labor to make a leap forward.
“It's very rare for a place to have the engineers actually understand the software and the hardware,” Shao said. “That's where China's strength in the last couple decades of being a manufacturing hub really plays into it.”
The world outside China isn’t standing still. NVIDIA in January announced a foundational platform for humanoid robotics, called the Isaac GR00T, that helps developers build humanoid bots. Robotics programs like those within Carnegie Mellon are using robots’ interactions with the real world to build better AI models, and vice versa. Robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics has built Atlas, which it calls the “most dynamic humanoid robot.” And Tesla’s Optimus has advanced beyond its man-in-a-robot-costume days.
 |
|
Still, with humanoid robotics predicted to be a $38 billion field within a decade, China is moving quickly. Unitree, one manufacturer, is selling its G1 humanoid model for $16,000. These robots are still rudimentary, but there’s a growing movement within China to build. Phone and electric car makers like Xiaomi and BYD are joining in. And there’s confidence in the country after its successful electric vehicle push.
In the U.S., growing interest in reshoring and protectionism could, in theory, drive a deeper integration between the software and the manufacturing side, and catalyze its humanoid industry. But tariffs and export controls are proving complex instruments.
After Tesla reported earnings this week, CEO Elon Musk said China’s recent export controls on rare-earth metals and magnets have included material needed for Optimus production, impacting the company’s ability to produce the bot.