AI-enabled, Chinese humanoid robotics company looks toward embodied intelligence

At the beginning of 2021, at a senior management meeting at Tesla's headquarters, Musk mentioned that "we should seriously build a robot", which opened up a new challenge. Tesla is tightly planning the creation of the humanoid robot Optimus.

On August 19, 2021, Tesla unveiled its humanoid robot project plan for the first time at AI Day. According to the details disclosed in the 2022 AI DAY, the development platform for the humanoid robot was completed in February at the beginning of the year, which took only six months, and in April and August, respectively, the ability to walk and swing the arm was realized.

Less than half a year later, on September 30, 2022, the Optimus robot prototype made its debut at AI Day 2022, with many new changes compared to the development platform. At Investor Day on March 1, 2023, Tesla showcased the Optimus' ability to move around, screw up, and more. Tesla's continuous rapid iteration of robots has proved to the world that Tesla, which is good at developing four-wheeled robots (cars), still has strong strength in the field of humanoid robots.

When OpenAI released ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, a new wave of artificial intelligence began to bring a vertigo change to human society. Deep learning was introduced in the early 2010s, and in 2017, the Transformer algorithm pushed deep learning into the era of large models.

On March 1, 2023, Tesla presented its latest video about the humanoid robot Optimus at the 2023 Investor Day. This version of the Optimus can be used to move around, screw and more. And Musk also revealed that his lab has multiple Optimus robots. Musk noted that Optimus leverages Tesla's expertise in manufacturing, with actuators, battery packs, and other key components of Optimus all custom designed by Tesla.

In May 2023, at the ITF World 2023 semiconductor conference, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said that the next wave of artificial intelligence will be "embodied intelligence", which is an intelligent system that can understand, reason, and interact with the physical world.

On December 13, 2023, Tesla released a demo video showing the second iteration of the humanoid robot Optimus Gen2, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk also reposted this video on social platforms to promote it himself. The Optimus in this video has a more refined appearance, and more good performances have been shown in anthropomorphic activities. For example, in terms of balance, the Optimus Gen 2 can already do squats while balancing itself; In fine movements, the Optimus Gen 2 can grab eggs and switch from one hand to the other and place them in other containers. In addition, at the end of the video, the Optimus Gen 2 dances to the beat of the music.

In February 2024, Figure AI just broke the news that it was invested by OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and others, and raised $675 million in the latest round of funding.

In March 2024, Figure AI released a video in which Figure AI's humanoid robot Figure 01 has the ability to see and can express what it sees, it reaches out to pick up the apple on the table, and explains the reason for doing so. According to the video, the robot uses an end-to-end neural network, and the video is not accelerated. Figure AI founder Brett Adcock and AI team leader Corey Lynch explained on social media that the humanoid robot is powered by OpenAI for visual reasoning and language understanding, while Figure AI's neural network provides fast, dexterous robot movements.

On the evening of July 3, 2024, Tesla's official Weibo announced that the second-generation humanoid robot Optimus will make its debut at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai from July 4 to 7. Tesla said the exhibition will "witness the re-evolution of humanoid robots."

With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the robot industry, especially embodied robots, has developed rapidly. Recently, Mobile ALOHA, a general-purpose robot that can stir-fry and do housework, developed by Google's DeepMind team and the Chinese team at Stanford University, has been swiped on social media. Unlike previous robots that were more used in the industrial sector, Mobile ALOHA integrates mobility and dexterity into two-handed movements, such as watering flowers, washing dishes, setting chairs, and even shaving.

Humanoid robots refer to human-like robots that can be used in a variety of application scenarios. As of August 2024, in addition to Tesla's Optimus and Figure AI's Figure 01, the humanoid robots released so far include Google's DeepMind team's Universal Robot Mobile ALOHA, Boston Dynamics' Atlas, 1X Technologies' EVE and NEO, UBTECH's Walker, Fourier GR-1, MindMinds Robot's XR4, Unitree's General Humanoid Robot H1, Leju's humanoid robot Kvavo, Zhiyuan Robot Expedition A1, and Qinglong, an open-source humanoid robot under Humanoid Robot (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., etc.

Humanoid robots have a bright future, and the premise of marketization is to achieve embodied intelligence and reduce costs

According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's prediction, in the future, assuming that the ratio of humanoid robots to the population is 2:1, the demand for humanoid robots is expected to reach 10 billion ~ 20 billion units, and the demand for humanoid robots will even far exceed that of cars.

In October 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots", positioning humanoid robots as "integrating advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, high-end manufacturing, and new materials, which are expected to become disruptive products after computers, smartphones, and new energy vehicles, which will profoundly change human production and lifestyle, and reshape the global industrial development pattern".

Made in China 2025 has also laid the foundation for the development of industrial robots. From the perspective of the structure of industrial robots, the body shell has always been self-manufactured, but the core components, such as servo systems, sensors, controllers and reducers, have been monopolized by Japanese and European companies in the past few decades. With the development in recent years, by 2022, China has gradually realized partial domestic manufacturing of servo systems, controllers and sensors. However, there is still a certain gap between the reducer and Japanese companies.

Gu Jie, chairman and CEO of Fourier Intelligence, once mentioned that due to the immaturity of the robot's motion ability, AI algorithm and market application at the beginning of the company's establishment (2015), the first entry into the field of rehabilitation robots was not until 2019, when the general humanoid robot project was officially launched. "I hope that robots will eventually enter homes and industries like smart electric vehicles."

Xiong Youjun, co-founder, chief technology officer and executive director of UBTECH, believes that in recent years, the humanoid robot industry has once again become a hot spot, thanks to the development and maturity of many technologies such as AI large models. The development of AI large models can make humanoid robots more intelligent, solve more real-world problems, make the interactive experience of humanoid robots more natural, make motion planning more convenient, and improve the research and development efficiency of humanoid robots.

In his view, after half a century of development, humanoid robots have reached the stage of industrialization, and their commercial application trends and landing scenarios have been more certain. "Humanoid robots are the best carrier of embodied intelligence, which will change the interaction mode of human-computer collaboration from passive interaction to active interaction and natural language interaction, so it will be the center of human-computer interaction of the next generation, and even become a 'smart terminal' in the real sense, which has great value in the long run."

Peng Zhihui, the founder of Zhiyuan Robot, revealed at the press conference of Zhiyuan Robot Expedition A1 that the commercialization of Expedition A1 will first be applied to the field of industrial intelligent manufacturing, and they are in contact with automobile companies and 3C manufacturers, and their goal is to control the target price of the product within 200,000 yuan. "We hope that the product will be commercialized in the second half of this year, and it will be first applied in the field of industrial manufacturing."

Humanoid robot companies are the hot topic for financing this year, and they are also the drivers of future urban GDP

According to the data of the "Industry Quadrant", in the first half of 2024, at least 22 financings in the field of global humanoid robots will be completed, with a total amount of more than 7 billion yuan. Among them, 13 financing cases have been completed in the field of Chinese humanoid robots, with a total financing amount of more than 2.5 billion yuan.

Since April 2024, humanoid robot innovation centers have been intensively established in major provinces and cities. On April 16, the Guangdong Provincial Embodied Intelligent Robot Innovation Center landed in Shenzhen; On April 18, Chengdu Humanoid Robot Innovation Center was officially opened; On the same day, Zhejiang Humanoid Robot Innovation Center landed in Ningbo; On July 19, Anhui Humanoid Robot Innovation Center also settled in Hefei.

Represented by the innovation center, a large net around humanoid robots in various provinces and cities has been slowly opened.

The Shenzhen headhunter company Henderson Executive, which specializes on the humanoid robots introduces that the Innovation Center is a concept proposed by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2018, and according to the document, its goal is to serve key common technologies, cutting-edge leading technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technological innovations in strategic areas, promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, cultivate new industries, and cultivate new kinetic energy. The innovation center is not unique to the humanoid robot industry, and there have been such as integrated circuit innovation center, power battery innovation center, optoelectronics innovation center, etc., but now humanoid robot innovation has been mentioned in an important position.

According to Musk, the popularity of humanoid robots will be 10 times that of cars in the future, and the market size of the industry may exceed $150 billion.

Unlike the Internet, AI and other software technologies that focus more on online, as a combination of mechanical and electronic information technology, humanoid robots are actually more like cars or mobile phones.

The key point is that as a physical industry with a wide range of technical fields and complex production processes, it can not only create a huge industrial output value, drive local employment, and even drive the entire surrounding area to achieve industrial upgrading.

Taking the automotive industry as an example, as the "jewel in the crown of industry", a car can involve tens of thousands of parts and thousands of upstream and downstream suppliers.

In 2023, China's automobile manufacturing industry will achieve an operating income of 10,097.58 billion yuan and a total profit of 508.63 billion yuan, which shows the huge scale of its industry. Today, the automobile industry has become a pillar industry in Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shanghai and other regions.

Similarly, humanoid robots also involve thousands or even tens of thousands of parts from batteries, arms, linear joints and other parts. Therefore, whether in terms of technology or industrial added value, humanoid robots are entirely likely to be on a par with the automobile industry and become the second pearl in the industrial crown.

This is also one of the reasons why various provinces and cities are actively preparing to build humanoid robot innovation centers and vigorously promote the development of the humanoid robot industry.

The China humanoid robots recruitment agency believes that humanoid robots rely on the local industrial base, supply chain and consumer market when the industry is implemented. Among the more representative enterprises in the humanoid robot industry, UBTECH and Zhuji Power are located in Shenzhen, Flexiv (Feixi Technology), MindMinds Robot and Zhiyuan Robot are concentrated in Shanghai, Galaxy General is in Beijing, and Unitree Technology and Youlu Robot are in Hangzhou.

Talent first for the development of humanoid robot companies is the key

The global humanoid robot competition pattern is characterized by diversification, regionalization and cross-border integration. Countries and regions such as United States, China, Japan and Europe are the regions with the highest concentration of humanoid robot enterprises in the world. United States humanoid robot companies, such as Boston Dynamics, Agile Robotics, Tesla, 1X Technologies, Apptronik and Figure, are in a leading position in the global humanoid robot competition with their deep technology accumulation and innovation capabilities. The products of these companies have significant advantages in motion control, intelligent perception, human-computer interaction, etc. United Kingdom Engineering Arts also has unique technology and mass production cost advantages in the design and manufacture of humanoid robots, giving it a place in the global market. Japan Honda's ASIMO series humanoid robots are famous all over the world, and they have a deep accumulation in robot motion control and intelligence. Xiaomi, Xingdong Era, Iron Man, Intelligent Future, Fourier Intelligence, Zhiyuan Robot, MindMind, 21 Institute of China Electronics Technology, Titanium Tiger, UBTECH, Leju, Xiaopeng Motors, Junmi, Dreame Technology, Unitree and other companies actively promote the research and development of humanoid robots. Through independent research and development and innovation, these enterprises have continuously improved the technical level and market competitiveness of their products, and promoted the rapid development of Chinese's humanoid robot industry.

Henderson Executive, one of the top China humanoid robots recruitment agencies, says the competition for talent for humanoid robots is necessarily global. For general-purpose humanoid robots, hardware that is detached from AI and embodied intelligence has no market value. Therefore, the training, layout and competition of humanoid robot talents include both software and hardware talents.

The "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots" mentions that it is necessary to strengthen the training of professionals in humanoid robot-related disciplines, encourage humanoid robot enterprises to cooperate with colleges and universities, scientific research institutes, etc., innovate the training mode of industry-university-research cooperation, jointly cultivate interdisciplinary interdisciplinary talents and engineering talents, and enhance the supply of high-level talents. Strengthen vocational education, technical retraining, etc., and vigorously cultivate industrial application-oriented talents. Strengthen the overseas exchange and introduction of high-end talents, improve the talent service system, and ensure that talents are attracted and retained.

The "Humanoid Robots: Future Development Trends and Shanghai Strategy Suggestions" issued by the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission also mentioned that Shanghai has a good foundation and advantages for the development of humanoid robots. For example, CETC 21 is on par with the international level in terms of high-power density micro servo motors; Shanghai Jiao Tong University has a good research accumulation in motion control theory, self-learning and behavioral development technology, hydraulic drive, function-structure-material-manufacturing integration, robotic arm and dexterous hand, and bionic joints and spine. Fourier Intelligence has many years of accumulation in human-like bionic motion behavior control technology, and has independently developed high-density integrated actuator joints; Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, and Shanghai University have many original achievements in the field of perception and cognition. However, the development of humanoid robots in Shanghai is faced with problems such as poor technical competitiveness of key components such as actuators, sensors, special chips, operating systems, human-computer interaction technology, and simulation systems, lack of deep cooperation in production and research in humanoid robot-related fields, and slow industrialization. General humanoid robots are the key to leading the next technological revolution and industrial revolution, and have disruptive influence and strategic significance.

Here are suggestions on talent development from Henderson Executive, one of the leading China humanoid robots recruitment agencies:

The first is to strengthen the research and development and layout of key core technologies of humanoid robots. Strengthen the R&D and innovation of key components and technologies such as actuators, sensors, special chips, and operating systems. Lay out humanoid robot human-computer interaction technology, establish a cloud-edge-end system, share data, models, knowledge bases, etc., and optimize the accuracy of front-end models. Promote the research and development of human nerve signal control technology, EEG, electromyography, vision, touch/force information fusion, human-machine collaboration, machine-machine collaboration and other technologies, accelerate technological breakthroughs in humanoid robot movement, cognition, perception, etc., strengthen the development of human-like bionic motion behavior control technology, independent learning and behavior development technology, and human-computer natural interaction technology of multimodal information, and explore humanoid robot learning skills, use tools, independent learning and other technologies. Formulate special policies and measures such as guidance, preferential treatment, and transformation, and accelerate the convergence of relevant enterprises and technologies in the field of humanoid robots at home and abroad. Strengthen government guidance, lay out technology alliances along the humanoid robot industry chain, promote close collaboration and cooperation between the government, universities, scientific research institutes, and enterprises, strengthen cross-field common technology research and development, and improve the technology research and development capabilities in humanoid robot related fields.

The second is to actively create diversified humanoid robot application scenarios. With Fourier Intelligence, CETC, Mindminds, Zhiyuan Robotics and other enterprises as the main body, we will accelerate the research and development of special humanoid robots around scenarios such as warehouse picking, logistics, and health care. Based on the special humanoid robot, strengthen the cooperation between enterprises such as Fourier Intelligence, Mindminds, CETC, Zhiyuan Robotics and museums, science and technology museums, scenic spots, and manufacturing enterprises, and actively create humanoid robots suitable for general scenarios such as education, exhibitions, games and entertainment, factory manufacturing, and home services. Create a general humanoid robot alliance to accelerate technology iteration and integration, and accelerate the development of general humanoid robots.

The third is to strengthen cooperation between industry and research. Encourage humanoid robot enterprises and scientific research institutions to form production and research consortiums to achieve deep integration of technology research and development, product development, marketing and other links. In view of the key technical problems in the development of the humanoid robot industry, a joint R&D project is set up, and the R&D task is jointly undertaken by enterprises and scientific research institutions. Strengthen the construction of the industry-research docking platform, improve the platform functions, and provide one-stop services such as technical demand release, project docking, achievement display, and transaction matchmaking. Set up special funds, provide loan discounts, etc., to encourage humanoid robot enterprises and scientific research institutions to carry out production and research cooperation.

Fourth, accelerate the construction of a risk-sharing mechanism. Accelerate the construction of a risk-sharing mechanism in the field of humanoid robots in Shanghai, and rationalize the risk-sharing ratio and income acquisition ratio of scientists, scientific research institutions, enterprises, and governments in the field of humanoid robots. Establish a fault-tolerant mechanism to encourage researchers to explore and challenge the unknown, and ensure the effective operation of the fault-tolerant mechanism. Establish a long-term investment mechanism in the field of humanoid robots in Shanghai to provide long-term financial guarantee for the development of humanoid robots.

Fifth, strengthen the cultivation and introduction of talents. Cooperate with universities and scientific research institutions to establish a training base for humanoid robot professionals, provide systematic and professional training courses, and cultivate talents with professional skills and knowledge. International humanoid robot academic exchange activities are held regularly, and experts and scholars at home and abroad are invited to participate in sharing the latest research results and technological progress. Formulate a talent introduction plan for the field of humanoid robots, establish a sound talent introduction mechanism, simplify the introduction process, and provide a good development platform and career promotion channel for outstanding talents.