China’s humanoid robots took centre stage at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, where leading manufacturers, component suppliers and AI firms showed the country’s grand ambitions in the fast-developing robotics industry.
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WAIC’s exhibition, which concluded on Tuesday, featured robots engaged in various activities, built by some of the country’s major manufacturers including AgiBot, Unitree Robotics, Fourier Intelligence, Keenon Robotics, Galbot, Deep Robotics, Robotera and the National and Local Co-Built Humanoid Robotics Innovation Centre in Shanghai.
“Society urgently expects robots to be widely adopted in real-world applications,” said Zhang Zhengyou, chief scientist and head of Tencent Holdings’ Robotics X Lab, during a panel discussion at WAIC on Sunday.
Zhang asserted, however, that “fulfilling the high standards and stringent requirements across diverse scenarios requires substantial efforts in both core technology innovation and practical engineering”.
That assessment reflected the rapid developments being made in China’s robotics sector, as the government has helped supercharge demand for humanoid robots in state-owned enterprises, while a number of manufacturers enter mass production this year.
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