China builds 85% of the world’s humanoids robots for cheap at scale, but finding buyers is tricky While there's a viable commercial path forward in industry and logistics, experts say demand for humanoids lags building capacity. #China #builds #the #worlds #humanoids

China: Humanoid robots leave humans behind on the racetrack | DW News Beijing has just held a half-marathon with a difference - with human runners left standing by a record-breaking robot. Humans and humanoids ran in separate lanes to avoid accidents or collisions. #China #Humanoid #robots #leave #humans

'The question is really just how long it will take': Over 2,000 gather at Humanoids Summit to meet the robots who may take their jobs someday Robots have long been seen as a bad bet for Silicon Valley investors — too complicated, capital-intensive and “boring, honestly,” says venture capitalist Modar Alaoui.But the commercial boom in artificial intelligence has lit a spark under long-simmering visions to build humanoid robots that can move their mechanical bodies like humans and do things that people do.Alaoui, founder of the Humanoids Summit, gathered more than 2,000 people this week, including top robotics engineers from Disney, Google and dozens of startups, to showcase their technology and debate what it will take to accelerate a nascent industry.Alaoui says many researchers now believe humanoids or some other kind of physical embodiment of AI are “going to become the norm.”“The question is really just how long it will take,” he said.Disney’s contribution to the field, a walking robotic version of “Frozen” character Olaf, will be roaming on its own through Disneyland theme parks in Hong Kong and Paris early next year. Entertaining and highly complex robots that resemble a human — or a snowman — are already here, but the timeline for “general purpose” robots that are a productive member of a workplace or household is farther away.Even at a conference designed to build enthusiasm for the technology, held at a Computer History Museum that’s a temple to Silicon Valley’s previous breakthroughs, skepticism remained high that truly humanlike robots will take root anytime soon.“The humanoid space has a very, very big hill to climb,” said Cosima du Pasquier, founder and CEO of Haptica Robotics, which works to give robots a sense of touch. “There’s a lot of research that still needs to be solved.”The Stanford University postdoctoral researcher came to the conference in Mountain View, California, just a week after incorporating her startup.“The first customers are really the people here,” she said.Researchers at the consultancy McKinsey & Company have counted about 50 companies around the world that have raised at least $100 million to develop humanoids, led by about 20 in China and 15 in North America.China is leading in part due to government incentives for component production and robot adoption and a mandate last year “to have a humanoid ecosystem established by 2025,” said McKinsey partner Ani Kelkar. ... #The #question #really #just #how