Beijing creates AI standards academy as China races ahead to equip robots with AI tech

The Beijing municipal government has launched an Artificial Intelligence Standardisation Academy, with the goal of setting up rules and standards for AI products and their applications in the robotics industry.

The institute was an initiative that came out of the five-day World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing that ended Sunday, as Chinese robotics makers rush to adopt AI to foster innovation in manufacturing.

The academy said it will conduct research into AI applications, as well as study AI governance to promote standard solutions to common problems in applying AI. In robotics, the academy aims to build up an open and collaborative system for further research. According to the International Federation of Robotics, China accounted for more than half of the world’s industrial robot installations in 2022, and that share is growing.

China’s embrace of robotics was visible at the Beijing event. From traditional industrial robot makers to humanoid robot developers, local firms demonstrated products that benefited from large language models (LLMs) – the technology that underpins services such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Applying LLMs to robotics equipment for factories can increase efficiency, according to Tian Zhongsheng, head of algorithms at the AI Research Institute of Siasun Robotics, a robotics maker based in Shenyang, the capital of China’s northeastern Liaoning province.

Industrial robotics apparatus, coupled with AI models, will be able to understand sophisticated voice commands, Tian said, making it possible to operate such equipment through verbal instructions.

Siasun was one the many robotics firms at WRC 2024, showcasing how a combination of AI and traditional robotics can transform traditional industries.