The Chinese government has unveiled its plans to mass-produce humanoid robots at an astonishingly fast speed, with plans to achieve this by 2025. The country also aims to become a global tech leader by having globally advanced technology by 2027.
Mass Production of Humanoid Robots by 2025
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released a nine-page advisory that calls the manufacturing industry of the country to come up with a humanoid robot innovation system, to yield breakthroughs in various crucial technologies, to make sure that the core components are safely and effectively supplied, and to become a world tech leader in four years.
This document serves as the country's most recent efforts to boost its local robotics industry and to boost technological self-reliance in the midst of great competition with the US when it comes to crucial areas of technology.
More specifically, the MIIT is looking for the sector to come up with the cerebellum, brain, and limbs of humanoid robots. This development could be assisted by the massive leaps in the capacities of artificial intelligence.
The MIIT also noted that these humanoid robots should be able to work in dangerous and harsh conditions. While these conditions remain unclear, the country's previous deployment of police and firefighting robots suggests that these could be more infrastructural in nature and less military-focusing.
China also acknowledged that in order to achieve the humanoid robot mass production that they aim to see, their technology on humanoid robots must be greatly improved. This is necessary for a reliable and safe supply chain system for the industry to be formed and for internationally competitive industrial ecology to be fostered.
The ministry also urges that by 2027, humanoid robots must become a new vital engine for economic growth in the country.
A Robot Race
On the other side of things, both China and the US have been in a race to develop "killer robot warships" as well as fighter jets that may menace each other. However, when it comes to humanoid robot soldiers, or even robot-human soldiers, the US appears to have a greater competitive edge compared to Beijing.
In 2014, reports revealed that the US Army was considering replacing actual human soldiers with autonomous ones. However, nearly a decade has passed and yet no robot fighters have been deployed to the battlefield.
China has already seen progress when it comes to industrial robotics. In 2021, it overtook the US for the first time to become the world's fifth most automated country, based on the World Robotics 2022 report.
Aside from this, Boston Dynamics, an industry leader when it comes to humanoid robots, has been aiming to tone down the rising calls for robots that are armed.
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