China unveils kung fu robots
Baku, February 17, AZERTAC
China has unveiled a new generation of robots performing kung fu in an effort to showcase its technological might to the West, according to The Telegraph.
Two dozen humanoids performed martial arts, parkour and breakdancing in what the Chinese embassy in Washington called a demonstration of “precision, power, and perfect balance”.
The display was broadcast on state television during China’s Spring Festival Gala, the Lunar New Year’s Eve show that is the country’s biggest TV event of the year and seen as a plank of Beijing’s propaganda efforts for its citizens and the rest of the world.
Unitree, the robotics company behind the machines, said it planned to build as many as 20,000 humanoids this year. China accounted for 90pc of the global market for humanoid robots last year.
The robotics display in Beijing featured Unitree’s robots punching, kicking and back-flipping in unison, as well as wielding nunchucks, vaulting over obstacles and running at up to nine miles per hour.
Three other robotics companies – Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab – also appeared at the event.
The demonstration drew sharp comparisons to a less emphatic display from the same company last year, in which Unitree’s robots awkwardly shuffled on the stage and waved red handkerchiefs.
“You can’t imagine how fast Chinese humanoid robots are evolving,” the Chinese embassy in the US posted on Facebook.
China’s growing prowess in humanoid robotics has raised security concerns in the West. The US think tank Rand warned last year that Beijing’s superiority in this sector could lead to “dependence on Chinese robotics firms for this critical dual-use technology”.
A US government report in 2024 said that China was “deploying significant government support for the humanoid robot industry in the form of subsidies, tax breaks, and development zones”.
Beijing’s ministry of industry and information technology said three years ago that it wanted to see thousands of humanoids in farms, factories and houses as soon as 2025, adding that they would be “significantly improved” by 2027.
Unitree, which sold around 5,500 robots last year, plans to build between 10,000 and 20,000 this year, Wang Xingxing, its chief executive, said.
The bots are sold for tasks such as working in car factories. Unitree plans to list on the Shanghai stock exchange at a valuation of around $7bn (£5bn) this year.
Beijing has not explicitly said it plans to use humanoids for military purposes and Chinese military chiefs have expressed some unease at their potential use.
US companies are also pushing into robotics, although manufacturing is at a much smaller scale than their Chinese counterparts.
Elon Musk’s Tesla is developing its Optimus robot, with a new model intended for mass production expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Mr Musk has said the company will make a million units this year.
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