In recent years, humanoid robots have received much attention from all sides, especially since last year, with more and more capital invested in this field. Recently, Song Xiaogang, Secretary-General of the China Machinery Industry Federation and Executive Director of the Robotics Branch, told a reporter from China Electronics News that he felt "mixed feelings" in the face of the current boom in the development of humanoid robots: while the boom is accelerating technological progress and industrial development, it may also cause excessive hype about the industry. All companies should remain vigilant about this and insist on being driven by scene needs to allow humanoid robots to solve practical problems in human production and life.
Song Xiaogang said that in recent years, governments at all levels have successively issued relevant policies to promote the development of the humanoid robot industry. In 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology successively issued the "Notice on Organizing the Unveiling of the Future Industry Innovation Tasks in 2023" and the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots". This year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and seven other departments have issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Development of Future Industry Creation Institutes", focusing on the high-quality development of the humanoid robot industry. In addition, Shandong Province, Shenzhen City, Hubei Province, Beijing, Shanghai and other places have successively issued industrial policies and established humanoid robot innovation centers to encourage the development of the humanoid robot industry.
In this context, humanoid robot companies and products are emerging rapidly in my country - UBTECH, Leju, Iron Man Technology, Fourier Intelligence, Yushu Technology, Tiantai Robot, Dreame Technology, Data Robot, Huahui Intelligence, Xingdong Jiyuan, Zhuji Power, Zhiyuan Robot, Kepler, Xiaomi, Xiaopeng and other related companies have successively laid out the humanoid robot track or released humanoid robot products.
"The humanoid robots that have been launched can jump and jump, which is indeed very eye-catching, but we still have to insist on being guided by application needs." Song Xiaogang emphasized that the development of the humanoid robot industry is not aimed at developing and launching a humanoid robot, but should be guided by application needs. Humanoid robots need to solve practical problems.
Last year, the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has already clarified the key directions for breaking through key technologies, including key technology groups such as robot "brain", "cerebellum", robot limbs, and robot body. At the same time, the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots" also made it clear that it is necessary to expand scene applications, such as creating typical scenes in the manufacturing industry, accelerating the promotion of people's livelihood and key industries, etc.
In the past two years, with the launch of the "Optimus Prime" humanoid robot by Tesla, companies in the fields of Internet, automobiles, and home appliances have invested in the humanoid robot track. In response to questions from reporters from China Electronics News, Song Xiaogang said that the current development boom of humanoid robots is mixed. "On the one hand, the attention of society and capital will indeed accelerate the progress of technology and the development of the industry. On the other hand, we must also be wary of excessive hype against the industry, which will have a negative impact on the humanoid robot industry." He said, "We still have to insist on being driven by scene needs to solve practical problems in human production and life."
Song Xiaogang also emphasized that the development of humanoid robots should pay attention to the coordination of the "brain", "cerebellum", and limbs. The current generative artificial intelligence technology is developing rapidly, which has improved the thinking ability of the "brain" of humanoid robots, but it is also necessary to pay attention to the matching of limb execution ability. "After all, humanoid robots need not only a smart brain to make decisions, but also developed limbs to perform actual actions to complete specific tasks." He explained.
Regarding how to promote the high-quality development of my country's robotics industry, Song Xiaogang pointed out that on the one hand, we should give full play to my country's market and institutional advantages, strengthen collaboration among departments, industrial chains and industries, take meeting industrial application needs as the driving force, and promote collaborative innovation of the industrial chain through applications; on the other hand, we should focus on strengthening integration and innovation with new generation information technology, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, make up for shortcomings, attack high-end, expand the market, increase market share and high-end product supply capabilities, develop towards high-end and intelligent development, and realize the transition from "having" to "excellent", and move towards high-quality development.