Robots Need Help Learning Human Skills: AI Companies Rushing to Meet Demand

From Beijing, this is Evelyn, offering a glimpse into the local business landscape. The latest edition of The China Connection highlights a key challenge for humanoid robots: mastering human skills, a problem AI is helping to solve.

The Big Story

QJ Robots, a startup focused on equipping robots with human-like abilities, has secured backing from Temasek, according to its founder and CEO Haichuan Gao. The company's AI model enhances robots' ability to anticipate their surroundings and execute tasks more effectively.

QJ Robots reports generating over 100 million yuan ($15 million) by deploying its model to more than 100,000 robots, primarily in mainland China. This extensive deployment provides a rich source of monthly data for the startup, as noted by Chief Technology Officer Tianren Zhang. However, he emphasized the need for a wider variety of data to optimize the model's training.

Both Zhang and Gao, who hold PhDs in automation from Tsinghua University, launched their three-year-old venture within the university's brain computing research center. Their work aligns with the tech industry's growing interest in "world models," which aim to simulate the physical world more accurately than text-generation-focused models like ChatGPT.

Beijing's strategy involves encouraging major industrial players to integrate and advance AI capabilities, creating an advantage for local startups within the manufacturing ecosystem. Lumos, an industrial robotics company founded by another Tsinghua alumnus, Chao Yu, has also received support and partnerships, including from Mitsubishi Electric. Lumos has established its own data collection center. Yu recognized the need for a platform that bridges data and AI instructions with task completion for businesses to maximize robot utility. Last week, the startup unveiled its NexCore system, designed to be compatible with a wide range of robots, not exclusively Lumos products.

The competition for the leading autonomous robotics solution is intensifying. Ace Robotics, co-founded by SenseTime co-founder Wang Xiaogang, launched just a year ago. Wang believes that successful humanoid robot solutions require a fusion of hardware, models, data, and real-world application scenarios. He stresses the importance of real-world data, as training with online videos can introduce unrealistic effects into the models. Ace Robotics develops wearable sensors for precise human activity data capture.

Wang predicts that by the end of next year, the industry will accumulate sufficient data for a breakthrough, akin to ChatGPT's transformative impact on business AI applications in late 2022. However, market patience remains uncertain. Unitree's stock experienced a decline after its founder tempered expectations for commercializing humanoid robots, and public attendees at a recent conference exhibition expressed visible underwhelm. Robots performing tasks like folding clothes or dispensing water were observed to be slow and mechanical, with one observer noting that a human performer would face criticism for such inefficiency.

Need to Know

Chinese humanoid robots' biggest obstacle: According to Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, U.S. restrictions on advanced foreign-made robotic devices have had a limited impact due to the low current deployment of humanoids in China.

Pop Mart shares fall: The maker of the popular Labubu figurines saw a drop in shares as ex-China sales declined. While China revenue grew 47.3% in the first half of the year, contributing to overall sales of 17.17 billion yuan ($2.55 billion), revenue in the Americas fell by 16.5%, and Asia Pacific ex-China experienced a 9.7% decrease. Citi has also lowered its price target.

Alibaba shares drop: Alibaba's shares fell 5% as significant AI investments led to a 75% decrease in net income. The company's cloud division reported revenue of 48.4 billion yuan, a 45% year-on-year increase. CEO Eddie Wu stated that AI-related product revenue has achieved "triple-digit growth for the twelfth consecutive quarter."

Coming Up

• Aug. 27: Industrial profits for July
• Aug. 27 - 28: APEC third senior officials' plenary meeting and related meetings in Dalian
• Aug. 31: Official manufacturing and services PMI
• Sept. 1: RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI