It is expected that humanoid robots, i.e. machines powered by artificial intelligence, designed so that the appearance and way of moving resemble people, will be used in many applications, e.g. in the industrial and service sector – notes CNBC.
Humanoid works are closer than you think
Investors’ interest in such robots is growing due to frequent references from technological leaders, such as Jensen Huang from Nvidia. At the beginning of this month, Huang initiated the “era of general robotics”, presenting program tools that in his opinion will help humanoid robots easier to navigate the world. Company CEO Nvidia He believes that the introduction of humanoids can take place in five years, and maybe even earlier.
5,000 Tesla robots this year
As noted by CNBC in the production of the robots themselves, the company Teslaprojekt responsible for developing the humanoid robot Optimus, seems to be a leader in the USA. Elon Musk announced plans to produce about 5000 Optimus robots this year. As CNBC notes, Muska’s ambitious plans can give him an advantage over American competitors such as Apptronik and Boston Dynamics. However, facing much stronger competition from China will be a much more difficult task.
Chinese robots are already conquering the market
Unitree robotics, The Chinese robotics company based in Hangzhou, last month sold two humanoid robots on the JD.com e-commerce platform, according to local media. Meanwhile, Shanghai startup robotics Agibotalso known as Zhiyuan Roboticshe achieved the goal that Tesla established for Optimus, and has already produced 5,000 robots this year, according to South China Morning Post.
China has almost 4 times more patents
As analysts assess, there are signs that China’s progress in the field of robots goes much further. The Morgan Stanley research note from February showed that the country was a leader in the world in the field of patent reports, which mentioned “humanoid”. Over the past five years, China has reported 5688 patents related to humanoid works, while US companies had 1483.
As noted by CNBC, large Chinese companies, such as Xiaomi, or manufacturers of electric vehicles Byd, Chery and Xpeng, are also involved in the space of humanoid robots.
And due to the fact that Chinese companies producing electric cars are starting to overtake Tesla in terms of growth rate and price reductions, experts say that similar dynamics can take place in the case of humanoid robots.
