China’s robotics industry chalked up another world first on Thursday, as a company based in Shenzhen announced it had developed a new humanoid robot that can change its own batteries.
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A demonstration video released on Thursday shows the Walker S2 robot, developed by UBTech Robotics, walking over to a charging station, removing a depleted battery from its chest, inserting it into a charging dock, and then installing a fresh battery before wandering off.
The feature means the robot can – in theory, at least – work non-stop 24 hours a day without human assistance, according to the company.
China’s humanoid robot industry has made rapid strides in recent years, with the Chinese government identifying robotics and artificial intelligence as crucial strategic industries and providing generous policy support.
A Moody’s report on Thursday noted that China was “emerging as a robotics powerhouse” due to its unique ability to combine advanced AI with low-cost manufacturing.
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More than half of the listed companies worldwide working on humanoid robots are Chinese, according to a Morgan Stanley report released in February, and the country’s robotics start-ups also attract a large share of global venture capital funding.
UBTech – a Shenzhen-based company that became the first humanoid robot maker to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2023 – is among a clutch of Chinese companies racing to bring their humanoid models to the mass market.