China Advances Humanoid Robotics Development as National Priority

A Beijing robotics company gave NBC News a tour of its facility on Thursday and demonstrated a bionic face prototype equipped with hair and artificial skin. The company is working to make robots appear more human-like to expand the range of tasks they can perform.

"If the robots look more like humans, they can do a lot of stuff that humans can do," said Nikita Gao, who handles the overseas market for the company. Beijing has identified the robotics industry as a national priority. Officials see potential for humanoid robots to assist with care for the country's aging population.

Last year only six robots completed a marathon in Beijing. This year more than 100 robots participated and the winner finished the 13-mile course in just over 50 minutes, surpassing the current human world record for a half-marathon by seven minutes.

A Lunar New Year gala broadcast on state television this year featured robots performing somersaults and coordinated martial arts movements, an advance over the previous year's demonstration.

Tuesday, Unitree Robotics unveiled a nearly 9-foot-tall humanoid robot equipped with a cockpit that can carry a human. The machine, priced at $650,000, is the first of its kind, according to the company. A video posted by Unitree Robotics showed its chief executive, XingXing Wang, standing beside the robot.

The GD01 normally walks on two legs but can transform into a quadruped. It weighs more than 1,100 pounds with a person inside.

Significant work is still required before humanoid robots can operate with full autonomy. Joanna Stern, NBC News’ chief technology analyst, said the industry must improve the software and artificial intelligence that control robot behavior in homes and industrial settings.

Manufacturers are collecting large volumes of real-world movement data to train the systems. Several companies, including U.S. firms, are paying people to wear iPhones and record their daily activities. At the X-Humanoid facility, robots proceed through assembly, testing and programming stages.

The company designs them to navigate tight spaces and rough terrain for tasks such as power line inspections that humans prefer to avoid. "We want the robot to help people, free people from this dangerous, harsh, repetitive working environment," Gao said.

The company stated that it does not intend for its robots to replace human workers. Several dozen half-finished humanoids without legs were lined up in the facility, each torso mounted on a wheeled base awaiting attachment of heads.

Chinese companies have highlighted the human-like appearance of their robots. Dan Wang, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said most factory tasks do not require a humanoid shape. "Not every robot in the factory really has to look like a person.

They don’t all need legs," Wang said. Gao acknowledged that further refinement is needed before the robots appear fully human, adding that she expects future versions to look more appealing.