China's robot makers chase Tesla to deliver humanoid workers
Nearly 30 Chinese companies showed off models in Beijing this week
China has called for mass production of humanoid robots by 2025
Tesla plans to deploy 1,000 Optimus robots in factories next year
By Qiaoyi Li and Kevin Krolicki
BEIJING, Aug 23 (Reuters) -China dominates the market for electric vehicles. Now it's chasing Tesla TSLA.O in the race to build battery-powered humanoids expected to replace human workers building EVs on assembly lines.
At the World Robot Conference this week in Beijing, over two dozen Chinese companies showed off humanoid robots designed to work in factories and warehouses, with even more displaying the made-in-China precision parts needed to build them.
China's push into the emerging industry draws from the formula behind its initial EV drive more than a decade ago: government support, ruthless price competition from a wide field of new entrants and a deep supply chain.
"China's humanoid robot industry demonstrates clear advantages in supply-chain integration (and) mass production capabilities," said Arjen Rao, analyst at China-based LeadLeo Research Institute.
The robotics effort is backed by President Xi Jinping's policy of developing "new productive forces" in technology – a point made in brochures for this week's event.
The city of Beijing launched a $1.4 billion state-backed fund for robotics in January, while Shanghai announced in July plans to set up a $1.4 billion humanoid industry fund.
The robots on display this week draw from some of the same domestic suppliers that rode the EV wave, including battery and sensor manufacturers.
Goldman Sachs forecast in January the annual global market for humanoid robots would reach $38 billion by 2035, with nearly 1.4 million shipments for consumer and industrial applications. It estimated the cost of materials to build them had fallen to about $150,000 each in 2023, excluding research and development costs.
"There is big room to squeeze the cost down," said Hu Debo, CEO of Shanghai Kepler Exploration Robotics, a company he co-founded last year inspired by Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus.
"China specialises in fast iteration and production."
Hu's company is working on its fifth version of a worker robot to trial in factories. He expects the sales price to be less than $30,000.
'CATFISH EFFECT' COMES TO ROBOTS
When Tesla opened its Shanghai factory in 2019, Chinese officials said they expected the EV pioneer would have a "catfish effect" on China's industry: introducing a large competitor that would make Chinese rivals swim faster.
Tesla's Optimus robot has had a similar effect, Hu said.
The U.S. automaker first introduced Optimus in 2021, which CEO Elon Musk then touted as potentially "more significant than the vehicle business over time".
Musk's company is using an artificial intelligence approach for Optimus modelled on its "Full Self-Driving" software for EVs. Chinese rivals and analysts say Tesla has an early lead in AI, but China has the ability to drive down the price of production.
Tesla showed off Optimus, mannequin-like, standing in a plexiglass box next to a Cybertruck at an exhibition alongside the conference in Beijing this week.
Optimus was outdone by many Chinese humanoids that were waving, walking or even shrugging, but it was still one of the most popular exhibits and thronged with people taking photos.
"Next year there will be more than 1,000 of my compatriots in the factory," a sign next to Optimus said.
Tesla, in a statement, reiterated it expected to move beyond prototypes to start producing Optimus in small volumes next year.
ROBOTS ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE
Hong Kong-listed UBTECH Robotics 9880.HK has also been testing its robots in car factories. It started with Geely 0175.HK and announced a deal on Thursday to test them at an Audi plant in China.
"By next year our goal is going to mass manufacturing," said Sotirios Stasinopoulos, UBTECH's project manager.
That would mean up to 1,000 robots working in factories, he said. "It is the first milestone towards a large-scale deployment."
UBTECH uses Nvidia NVDA.O chips in its robots but more than 90% of components are from China.
The current generation of production robots - massive arms capable of welding and other tasks - has been led mostly by companies outside China, including Japan's Fanuc 6954.T, Swiss engineering group ABB and Germany's Kuka, owned by Chinese home appliance manufacturer Midea 000333.SZ.
China leads the world with factory-installed production robots, more than triple the number in North America, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
Xin Guobin, China's vice-minister for industry and information technology, said at the opening of the Beijing event that his ministry had been implementing Xi's guidance and had made China "an important force in the global robot industry."
The country last November called for mass production of humanoid robots by 2025, but that will start on a much smaller scale than is needed to transform EV production.
"I believe that it is likely to be at least 20 to 30 years before humanoid robots can achieve large-scale commercial application," said LeadLeo Research Institute's Rao.
China's dominance in industrial robots https://reut.rs/3AsStEJ
Annual installations of industrial robots https://reut.rs/4dOZhef
Reporting by Qiaoyi Li and Kevin Krolicki in Beijing; Editing by Jamie Freed
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تازہ ترين خبريں
دستبرداری: XM Group کے ادارے ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت تک صرف عملدرآمد کی خدمت اور رسائی مہیا کرتے ہیں، کسی شخص کو ویب سائٹ پر یا اس کے ذریعے دستیاب کانٹینٹ کو دیکھنے اور/یا استعمال کرنے کی اجازت دیتا ہے، اس پر تبدیل یا توسیع کا ارادہ نہیں ہے ، اور نہ ہی یہ تبدیل ہوتا ہے یا اس پر وسعت کریں۔ اس طرح کی رسائی اور استعمال ہمیشہ مشروط ہوتا ہے: (i) شرائط و ضوابط؛ (ii) خطرہ انتباہات؛ اور (iii) مکمل دستبرداری۔ لہذا اس طرح کے مواد کو عام معلومات سے زیادہ کے طور پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے۔ خاص طور پر، براہ کرم آگاہ رہیں کہ ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت کے مندرجات نہ تو کوئی درخواست ہے، اور نہ ہی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں کوئی لین دین داخل کرنے کی پیش کش ہے۔ کسی بھی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں تجارت میں آپ کے سرمائے کے لئے ایک خاص سطح کا خطرہ ہوتا ہے۔
ہماری آن لائن تجارتی سہولت پر شائع ہونے والے تمام مٹیریل کا مقصد صرف تعلیمی/معلوماتی مقاصد کے لئے ہے، اور اس میں شامل نہیں ہے — اور نہ ہی اسے فنانشل، سرمایہ کاری ٹیکس یا تجارتی مشورے اور سفارشات؛ یا ہماری تجارتی قیمتوں کا ریکارڈ؛ یا کسی بھی فنانشل انسٹرومنٹ میں لین دین کی پیشکش؛ یا اسکے لئے مانگ؛ یا غیر متنازعہ مالی تشہیرات پر مشتمل سمجھا جانا چاہئے۔
کوئی تھرڈ پارٹی کانٹینٹ، نیز XM کے ذریعہ تیار کردہ کانٹینٹ، جیسے: راۓ، خبریں، تحقیق، تجزیہ، قیمتیں اور دیگر معلومات یا اس ویب سائٹ پر مشتمل تھرڈ پارٹی کے سائٹس کے لنکس کو "جیسے ہے" کی بنیاد پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے، عام مارکیٹ کی تفسیر کے طور پر، اور سرمایہ کاری کے مشورے کو تشکیل نہ دیں۔ اس حد تک کہ کسی بھی کانٹینٹ کو سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیقات کے طور پر سمجھا جاتا ہے، آپ کو نوٹ کرنا اور قبول کرنا ہوگا کہ یہ کانٹینٹ سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیق کی آزادی کو فروغ دینے کے لئے ڈیزائن کردہ قانونی تقاضوں کے مطابق نہیں ہے اور تیار نہیں کیا گیا ہے، اسی طرح، اس پر غور کیا جائے گا بطور متعلقہ قوانین اور ضوابط کے تحت مارکیٹنگ مواصلات۔ براہ کرم یقینی بنائیں کہ آپ غیر آزاد سرمایہ کاری سے متعلق ہماری اطلاع کو پڑھ اور سمجھ چکے ہیں۔ مذکورہ بالا معلومات کے بارے میں تحقیق اور رسک وارننگ ، جس تک رسائی یہاں حاصل کی جا سکتی ہے۔
