Tesla’s Optimus faces human competition at Beijing robotics conference

BEIJING – While Chinese companies last week showed off humanoid robots that play the zither or sip soda, Tesla He displayed his Optimus robot inside a transparent box, motionless next to his cars.

As Elon Musk claimed, Optimus can fold laundry.And someday he’ll be cooking, cleaning or teaching kids — the technology he’s touting could give Tesla a $25 trillion valuation. Musk says Tesla plans to test humanoid robots in its factories next year. It’s unclear how well they’ll perform at the moment.

Meanwhile, the World Robot Congress, which kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday, announced that 27 humanoid robots made their debut at the event, a record number. And, similar to the country’s push into electric cars a few years ago, money and resources are now pouring into developing humanoid robots.

Wei Cao, a partner at Lanchi Ventures, said total investment in China’s robotics industry over the past decade has exceeded 100 billion yuan (US$14.01 billion). The company has 15 billion to 20 billion yuan in assets under management, he said.

Cao told CNBC that he expects the next milestone in robotics development to happen in the next year or two: a commercially viable use case in manufacturing where robots can move around and know how to prioritize a series of tasks.

This is more complex than repeating a single task, such as grabbing a water bottle, which robots can already do, Kao noted. He pointed to how artificial intelligence, including models from OpenAI and alibabaThis has greatly improved how well robots can process information to perform tasks.

Lanchi Ventures is an investor in Shanghai-based Agibot, a human-powered startup founded in February 2023 by A. Huawei One-Time RecruitmentA few days before the World Robot Congress, the startup unveiled five new robots, some of which are available for pre-order with a deposit of 5,000 yuan.

Agibot aims to start some deliveries in mid-October, followed by a series of deliveries. 300 bots starting November. Its advertisements for available humanoid robots showed them as salespeople, exhibition guides, or factory parts collectors. Some were on display at the conference.

Also in attendance was Stardust Intelligence’s humanoid robot Astribot S1, which appeared in a promotional video in late April folding a T-shirt and putting it on. Pouring wineA few of the robots on display at the conference performed complex Chinese martial arts moves, played the zither, and wrote Chinese calligraphy with a brush.

Shenzhen-based Stardust was founded in December 2022 by a former member of Tencent and Baidu Robotics projects. The startup says it uses AI to support imitation learning for robots, where machines can repeat actions after watching them.

Other human-like robots, from lesser-known companies Jalboot and ToroyOr putting products in baskets or bringing individual soda cans from a shelf to another table.

Some actions were stiff and slow. It’s not always clear whether actions are remotely controlled or performed autonomously. Demos don’t reveal everything about the product’s capabilities.

Cao Lanshi said that compared with last year, the number and types of demonstrations at the World Robot Conference have increased significantly, noting that many students and young people have also attended.

In his assessment, robotics technology from Tesla and other U.S. companies is likely to outpace that of China by one to two years, but Cao noted that China is more than 95 percent self-sufficient in its human supply chain.

As for why Tesla didn’t show Optimus in action at the conference, Kao said the promotional videos already show it has high capabilities and he understands if the company doesn’t want to invest the resources to hire an engineer to run demos.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jeff Bernstein, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Automation (A3), spoke at the conference via recorded video and showed some virtual demos of human-powered startups like Agility.

“These are pilots, but they and others are now in pilot programs, and we think some companies are already starting to use them more than just pilots,” he said, noting that the society will hold its own conference on humans in Tennessee on October 7.

Instead of replicating the entire human being at once, companies that manufacture human beings tend to focus on certain parts before moving on to others.

One of Shenzhen headquartered Limx Dynamics’ product released this year is the P1, a research robot that can balance on two legs. It can climb and descend stairs and regain balance when pushed.

Limx Dynamics was founded more than two years ago. Its recent backers include Alibaba, according to PitchBook. The startup announced earlier this month that its robot can move objects around a warehouse and autonomously replan how to complete the task. If the target is moved.

Other companies at the World Robot Congress showed off a range of gears, robot hands and other parts.

By around 2030, a single robot will likely be able to perform simple household tasks, nursing care and medical treatment, partly on its own and partly in collaboration with humans, Shigeki Sugano, president of the Japan Robotics Association, said Thursday at the conference.

He said this included the ability to express emotions. Fully autonomous human beings are not expected until after 2050.

Among the development challenges, he said, if the humanoid robot is to fully support humans, it will need to address the current problem of not having enough power.

A human battery may only last for two hours before it needs to be recharged.