China’s advancements in humanoid robots to transform life, work

China's advancements in humanoid robotics are helping to bring robots out of science fiction movies and into the real world.

The "Robot Gala" was recently staged by major Chinese robot maker AgiBot in Shanghai, featuring an all-robot cast. It was a showcase of modern robots’ motion control, computer vision, and creativity.

"Usually, robots are just there to support the show. This time, we want them to be the stars," said Li Jiayu, Director of Solutions at AgiBot.

Last year, eight out of ten humanoid robots sold were from Chinese vendors. Over 140 robot makers in the country competed to create the best products, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Robots can also move from the dance floor to the factory floor. Chinese engineer Chang Liu is building software in Reading, UK that allows users to train robots. They learn from every interaction. And with enough practice, they could eventually be ready for the production line, helping companies work faster and smarter.

"Robotics is the opportunity that would bridge the labour gaps. That would ultimately produce enough productivity that would serve the need for future societies," said Liu, CEO, Extend Robotics.

Humanoid robots look set to perform more and more tasks once reserved for humans, including making food, delivering parcels, and even working in hospitals.

In a store in the heart of Shanghai, a robot worker is busy welcoming guests.

"It answers customer questions, interacts in the store, and helps create a lively atmosphere," said Zhang Qian, the store manager.

AgiBot recently took part in a tech show in London where it introduced robots that can help students and teachers in the classroom.

"In China, we're already working with a secondary school already. We built up some courses and lessons for the robots to work with the students," said Martin Ma, AgiBOT UK Country Manager.

Training robots takes time and money. But Elliot Wu, an assistant professor in Machine Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, says that is changing fast. He's working on software that would allow robots to learn simply by uploading a video.

"Potentially that's going to be a hundred or even a thousand times faster in terms of the scale of the data that we can collect in a certain period of time," said Wu.

China’s advancements in humanoid robots to transform life, work

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting