Melody Chen Humanoid robots are going places, from working on factory floors to flipping burgers and pouring cups of tea for diners in restaurants. Recent quantum leaps in generative artificial intelligence by industry leaders such as OpenAI have transformed the world of robotics as robots are now being trained to think and operate like humans, with China at the forefront of this race. In the west, big dreamers such as Agility Robotics, Apptronik, Sanctuary AI and Figure are building AI humanoids which they claim will one day be able to do work that people can't or don't want to.
And they are backed by big tech like Amazon, Google, Nvidia and Microsoft, to the tune of billions and billions of dollars. Even Elon Musk is developing an AI humanoid called Optimus which he says will "transform the world" and be bigger than Tesla's electric cars. Chinese charge China remains in the thick of the race to dominate an AI humanoid market that could be worth US$38 billion (HK$296 billion) by 2035, according to reports.
At the World AI World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July, Chinese firms showed off eye-catching AI humanoids, including a dog-like quadruped that could walk on two legs and even navigate stairs. Shanghai Droid Robot's chief technology officer Mou Haiming said large language models and AI are making the transition out of servers and into the real world of smartphones and electric vehicles, and bipedal humanoids will be next carrier of the technology. Thi.