Move Over, Humans. China's Robots Are Taking Over

0:05Our colleague Yoko Kubota was in Beijing a few months ago and visited a strange place.

0:15So it's actually only open on the weekends and you have to book a tour. It's very competitive to book this tour. Yoko went to a mall, but not just any mall. This mall was filled with robots. It's basically an exhibition of all kinds of different robots that China has to offer.

0:44On the first floor, you could see, for instance, household robots that can do certain types of tasks, like clean the house or make coffee, etc.

1:00And the other thing I guess that was personally more impressive is probably the robots that are able to sort out medicine. Some robots that are able to conduct some dental surgery or, you know, operations. A robot dentist? Yeah, robot dentist, basically.

1:20You can go to the second floor. There they show robots that are a bit more fun. So I saw one where a robot was wearing a Michael Jordan jersey and like shooting basketball. There was a kind of a group of small robots that was dancing to dance music. Kids liked that one a lot.

1:43Robots making lattes and wearing basketball jerseys might all sound a little silly. But Yoko says people should be taking these robots more seriously. because this technology is shaping up to be a new frontier in the AI arms race between the U.S. and China. China is really all in in the area of robotics and humanoids. You know, they are using subsidies. They are attracting a lot of good talent. Some are coming back from overseas. The country is really focused on it and all in. Compared to what's happening in the U.S., All of this investment is giving China's humanoid companies a solid head start.

2:27Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knudsen. It's Wednesday, April 29th.

2:40Coming up on the show, China is building a legion of humanoid robots. Should the U.S. be worried?

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3:55Humanoid robots, the ones that actually look like humans with limbs and torsos, have taken China by storm in the last few years. The government is constantly showing off their rapidly improving physical capabilities. One robot just beat the human world record in a half marathon in Beijing. I think one of the most notable robot-related events, annual events in China in the last two years or so has been the CCTV Lunar New Year gala.

4:30Every year they have this show on TV right around Lunar New Year where, you know, people sing and dance. And then for the last two years, robots have also been participating in this gala. If you haven't seen this video, by the way, it is wild. The robots are doing high-level martial arts, perfectly synchronized, and even doing backflips. Those robots have definitely surpassed my physical ability. You can just really sense the speed of development of technology.

5:08Yoko says there's a few reasons why the Chinese government is betting big on humanoid robots. First, China sees humanoids as a way to potentially fix a looming demographic problem. The country's population is aging, and Beijing is worried that someday there won't be enough workers to keep the economy going. Robots could be used in factories. So, you know, they could, for instance, help carry very heavy things that might be too strenuous for a human to carry, or just do repetitive work. And the factory line, usually it's already designed for humans, so you don't have to significantly change the line layout.

5:46Humanoids are also taking on people-facing jobs. You've got things like robot hotel receptionists, airport cart handlers, museum guides, and they're even starting to care for the elderly. You know, the elderly people, you just have less workers that are able to do that kind of work. So with that demographic issue in mind, I think they find robotics to be very important. So it's almost like a labor solution. Yeah, that's right. I think an element of that is that. And with such rapid pace of aging, you're definitely going to need caretakers. And there may not be enough caretakers to look after these older people.

6:26And pinguinoids are considered to be one potential technology to help China cope with aging.

6:37Bigger picture, China sees humanoid robots as the next phase of the AI race. In the Chinese government's most recent five-year plan, which lays out bold and broad goals for the country, humanoids are referred to as embodied AI. In other words, we've come a long way when it comes to artificial brains, and now we need to work on the artificial bodies. And China is well-positioned to do that already. We've known China for being very good at making stuff like cell phones or electronics, you know, or even cars these days. And a lot of the technology or components used in these hardware is also going to be used in humanoids because they're also, you know, a big part of humanoids is that they're hardware.

7:21So for humanoids, that'll probably be stuff like batteries. That'll be stuff like sensors or motors. You know, these components, China already has a very strong foundation in, both with technology and the ability to produce them efficiently and cheaply. China's mighty supply chain is a major tool when the government wants to breathe life into an up-and-coming industry. In the past, the country's been able to give a giant boost to cutting-edge technologies like EVs and computer chips. And that same playbook is now being applied to humanoids. Those might be everything from, you know, offering cheap or free land for a few years as they set up a factory or office space.

8:04It might also be about, you know, having some state linked banks offer better loan terms. It could also be that they offer subsidies to buyers. So if you're buying a humanoid, you might get, say, a 10 % subsidy from the government so that it just encourages buyers to, you know, give it a try, even at a very early stage of technology. China's government is also a customer. In many cases, the biggest customer, buying up humanoids and deploying them in all kinds of places. This gives the humanoid companies a steady source of revenue, and it gives them a playground to test new models and gather data.

8:42The government itself, in providing certain services, has introduced humanoids. Again, these are still at a very early stage, but there are some robocops in, for instance, a city like Hangzhou, where they have a robocop intern doing some traffic control. A robocop intern? Yes, it's an intern. So not a full employee yet. Not giving it a badge yet. They're just... No, not yet. Not yet. Then, of course, there's the robot elephant in the room. The Chinese government's interest in using humanoids for war. All these things could be utilized for military purposes. So that might be another reason why they're very focused on this area.

9:29Like killer robots. Yes, killer robots. Haven't they watched the Terminator? Come on, people. Yeah. Terminator bots might be far-fetched for now. But Yoko says robotics are already a part of China's military arsenal. We've seen stuff like robot wolves in the military parade in China. Robot wolves? Yes. So it looks like robot dogs, but I guess they are wolves. A little more fierce than a dog. Yeah, they're more fierce. You know, they have weapons, and you don't want to call those a dog, I guess. Yeah, my dog would never carry—I would never give my dog a gun. Right.

10:11For China, the rapid advancement of humanoid robots is opening up all kinds of possibilities. Meanwhile, over in the U.S., tech companies are watching this with envy and also concern. Coming up, what the U.S. is doing to catch up. I'll be back.

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11:33In the U.S., there are only a few players working on humanoids. One that you might have heard of is called Boston Dynamics, with their viral videos of slick silver robots that can sprint and do backflips. And then there's Tesla. The EV maker also has its own line of humanoids called Optimus. How does Elon Musk talk about humanoid robots? Elon Musk's vision is very big. So he envisions, you know, Optimus and humanoids in general to be in factories. You know, they can do domestic chores, housework. They can do surgeries and even travel to Mars to colonize the planet. So he has a very broad and ambitious vision when it comes to humanoids.

12:19The scale of Optimus, like I said, that's really going to be something else. I think it's going to be the biggest product of all time by far. In January, during a Tesla earnings call, Musk talked about his ambitions for Optimus. I think long-term Optimus will have a very significant impact on the U.S. GDP. Optimus has already deployed inside factories for Tesla and some other companies it deals with. The robot is advancing fast. But during that call, Musk also acknowledged that his robots face tough competition. He realizes that China is a big player here and, you know, and a major rival. So he has mentioned that he hasn't seen any other significant competitors when it comes to humanoids besides China.

13:16I always think, like, people sort of outside of China kind of underestimate China. China's an ass-kicker next level. He said that China is an ass-kicker next level? Yeah. Their robot feet are kicking us in our human butts. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

13:41Well, China is kicking butt when it comes to artificial butts. On the other hand, the U.S. is ahead when it comes to artificial brains. The U.S. is seen to have an edge over China when it comes to the brain part. That's the AI side of things. It's the large language models. It could be the chips. And the U.S. is, generally speaking, seen to be ahead. But again, when it comes to hardware, that area of China is just so dominant. And so you can have the brain, but you still need to build the actual hardware. You know, it's not that the U.S. can't make those. They probably can, but it would cost a lot more and take a lot of time.

14:19So when you're scaling up, when you're really mass producing humanoids, that's going to be a challenge for the U.S. industry. China's supply chain is so dominant that many of the U.S.'s top robotics companies rely in some way on Chinese parts. And that presents a lot of risks. For instance, China could, in theory, cripple the U.S. robotics industry by withholding certain components. Or even use some of the components it sells to American companies as a secret backdoor to conduct surveillance. China denies it does anything like this. If you don't have control of that technology, especially in crucial infrastructure areas, you may be concerned that, you know, if you're using Chinese technology, could they somehow be controlling it from China or, you know, someplace linked to China?

15:05Do you want that kind of control handed over to another state, especially for a state like China, where the U.S. is competing with? Chinese government officials have said that Beijing is committed to safeguarding the security and stability of global supply chains.

15:24Lawmakers in the U.S. have also started ringing alarm bells about the military risks of a world filled with Chinese humanoids. Robots with enhanced mobility and AI-powered capabilities will become increasingly important in military applications. — In March, Congress held hearings, where experts warned about China's growing robot supremacy. — Robots increasingly will become part of national defense strategies. The Chinese government understands this. — In a sign that the U.S. is concerned about being left behind, last year President Donald Trump signed an executive order to boost, quote, research facilities for robotic laboratories and production facilities.

16:10Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives is aiming to outright ban the federal government from using Chinese humanoids in the U.S.

16:22So China and the U.S. are both pushing ahead to create this technology, but can we, like, stop for a second and just think, like, should we even be making AI-powered human-like robots? I mean, the Terminator aside, is it necessarily a good idea to have humanoids that can do everything that we can and maybe even a little better? It's a great question. And it's a topic that I think a lot of people also in China are debating. I mean, in reality, it's likely to take years. But also what I noticed when I looked at the humanoids, a lot of them running or doing certain tasks in China, was that actually humans are really great.

17:01Like, they can do very complicated tasks, their hands, their legs, their feet, in a way that we never imagined how hard it would be for humanoids to do those. So realizing that, it's still going to be years until they can really be useful, really be smart, and be able to do tasks that humans would think are quite simple.

17:29While we may be years away from a robot-led economy, or a robot-led Armageddon, China is actively getting its citizens ready for a robot future, whatever it may look like. Yoko saw firsthand the excitement in children's faces back at that robot mall in Beijing. The kids particularly liked the dancing robot, as well as the robot dogs. There were three of them, and it's so natural for them just touching the dogs, speaking to them. By actively buying up these technologies and introducing them, people just get exposed to these kinds of new technology, and then, you know, they're used to it. They might adopt it in the future.

18:15They're open to it. So I think that's one of the effects that the government's approach has. Like the Chinese people may be more familiar with and open to humanoids and robots, you know, being a part of their daily life.

18:44That's all for today. Wednesday, April 29th. To finish off today's credits, here's reporter Ben Fritz, who won trivia during last night's live show in LA. Okay. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal. If you like our show, follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We're out every weekday afternoon. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Woo!

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