Chinese Robot Makers Shift From Humanoid Demonstrations to Machines Built for Work

A Chinese humanoid robot covered 100 metres in 9.39 seconds at the humanoid games, faster than Usain Bolt's human record of 9.58 seconds, in a demonstration staged for cameras rather than a comparable athletic event.

The commercial message at this year's World Robot Conference in Beijing was more restrained. Humanoids drew the crowds, but Chinese makers emphasised practical design, and wheeled machines received more emphasis as the industry moved from demonstration to deployment, according to the South China Morning Post. Wheels are cheaper, more reliable and adequate for most warehouse and inspection tasks, which is the constraint that decides purchases.

The same publication reported a parallel trend among Chinese office workers, where non-programmers are building their own artificial-intelligence tools, driven mainly by concern about falling behind as technology reshapes their work. Courses and tutorials have multiplied around that anxiety.

Both stories describe adoption arriving from the bottom of the market. Chinese robotics firms are competing on unit cost and reliability at a moment when Western investors are questioning the return on large artificial-intelligence capital spending, and chip stocks are falling.