China is going all out to outpace the United States in the race to develop advanced humanoid robots. Its latest strategy: sending its bots to boot camp. Cities across the country are opening huge humanoid robotics training bases, which put robots through their paces in a variety of different scenarios and harvest training data to help manufacturers accelerate their product development. The biggest of these facilities, located in Beijing’s Shijingshan district, covers an area of more than 10,000 square meters and will generate over 6 million data points every year, the local government announced.
China and the U.S. are the clear front-runners in the emerging humanoid robot industry, which aims to create robots with humanlike bodies that can replace human workers in a range of settings – from factory floors to nursing homes. The training bases are designed to address “the current data shortage” that is holding back China’s domestic industry, according to a local government statement.
The Beijing center provides 16 specific scenarios for robot training, including settings that mimic a manufacturing facility, a retail outlet, an elderly care center and a smart home. In the past, robotics companies collected training data in isolation, resulting in inconsistent quality. The new training base will enable standardized, large-scale data generation, delivering high-quality data at lower costs, the statement said. The training bases are part of a broad effort by the Chinese authorities to foster a world-leading humanoid robot industry, as a group of domestic players vie with American competitors including Tesla’s Optimus to roll out robots on a commercial scale.
The Chinese government highlighted “embodied intelligence” – referring to artificial intelligence integrated into physical machinery, such as robots – as a key future industry for the first time in March. In recent months, China has hosted high-profile events to showcase its progress in robotics, with humanoids taking part in a half-marathon, a kickboxing match and a dance performance at the popular Spring Festival Gala. In late August, Beijing also rolled out guidelines about promoting the deployment of AI-powered devices across broad sectors of the economy, with a target of raising the adoption level to over 90% by 2030, the South China Morning Post reports.
