China wants humanoid robots to automate aged care, handle grunt work as demographics shift
- Anthropomorphic robots are being built for roles where manpower is in short supply as China’s population rapidly ages and shrinks
Wandering around an exhibition hall at a tech fair in Shanghai, a humanoid robot took small steps for robotkind. And while still unable to leap itself, its presence nonetheless illustrated strides in China’s robotics industry.
It appears a little clumsy at first glance – unlike the anthropomorphically perfected androids seen in sci-fi – but the 25kg (55-pound) device features full-body controls and 30 degrees of movement freedom. It can also grasp objects and is capable of conversing in sign language.
Zhang Yongwen, CEO of the robot’s nascent manufacturer, Fairyon Humanoid Tech, sees the company’s future mainly in the homes of elderly people – offering them much-needed assistance and companionship.
“We’re also developing a new type that can make facial expressions that closely resemble humans, such as smiling and blinking,” he said, speaking at last month’s China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair, where his robot turned heads while roaming the floor.
Established early this year in Shanghai, Zhang’s company is among the humanoid robot developers that have multiplied in China in recent years as the country has set its sights on technological innovations and high-end manufacturing amid an intensifying trade and tech rivalry with the United States.
Human-like robots, which can be highly versatile when using tools created by humans and can respond to human emotions, are expected to help make up for a diminishing demographic dividend that the country once enjoyed, and to plug the gap in elderly care as Chinese society rapidly ages and its workforce shrinks, according to industry insiders.
02:12
Inside a Chinese factory that makes humanoid robots with enhanced facial movements
A new high ground in the global scientific and technological competition, the humanoid robot sector in China entered a period of “explosive growth” last year, seeing an industry size of 3.91 billion yuan (US$539 million), or 85.7 per cent larger than the year prior, according to a report issued in April by a government-backed think tank, the China Centre for Information Industry Development.
It projected that China’s industry will continue to grow rapidly and expects it to be valued at more than 20 billion yuan by 2026.