Building Humanoid Robots: The Race of Nations in the 21st Century

The space race, an epic contest between the United States and the Soviet Union, symbolized the quest for scientific dominance and the battle for geopolitical supremacy in the 20th century.

It conjures up mythical images of intercontinental rockets tearing through the sky, creatures launched into Earth orbit, and astronaut Neil Armstrong's historic walk on the Moon.

An incident occurred in early March involving a male humanoid robot named Muhammad produced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who acted inappropriately at its launch ceremony with a female reporter who was hosting the program.

Accordingly, while the female reporter of Al Arabiya TV channel was turning her back to the Muhammad robot to face the camera, the robot suddenly reached out to touch the female reporter's buttocks. Muhammad robot then quickly lowered its arm as if to hide its action.

The sudden action of the Muhammad robot startled the female reporter and she turned back to look, but she remained calm to continue her work.

But the incident has inadvertently thrust Saudi Arabia's robotics efforts into the international spotlight, highlighting how countries around the world are racing to make new strides in developing functional humanoid robots.

Humanoid robots are seen as visual symbols of breakthroughs in the field of AI.

In Italy, the Italian Institute of Technology (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) is working on the iCub, a humanoid robot for research.

Their main goal is epistemological, to investigate whether machine learning and AI need a physical body to develop a comprehensive understanding of the world, said Giorgio Metta, the scientific director of the Italian Institute of Technology.

However, Mr. Metta also acknowledged that global competition is increasingly fierce to demonstrate innovative power, especially as the economic value of AI increases.

Humanoid robots are particularly effective at demonstrating progress, he argues, because they provide a visual and easy-to-understand image of advances in technology.

“It’s easy to demonstrate that your technology is good because people can see it, and it doesn’t require much explanation. If you run a program on a computer, you get an answer, no matter how impressive it is, it’s not as intuitive as a robot,” explains Giorgio Metta.

While much of their research is collaborative, particularly with other partners in the European Union, Metta said he has been cautioned against collaborating with a major global player in humanoid robotics, China.

It is unfortunate, he added, that scientists are being asked to consider geopolitical sensitivities in their research.

China wants to take the lead in humanoid robots

When it comes to humanoid robots, China is racing to the top, so it's no wonder other countries are starting to get nervous.

China plans to mass produce advanced humanoid robots by 2025, according to a document released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology last October.

Fourier Intelligence, a Shanghai-based startup that develops and manufactures humanoid robots, said it expects to roll out about 1,000 humanoid robots for delivery this year.

“China is a formidable competitor in the race to establish dominance as the leading market force in humanoid robots,” said Zen Koh, CEO of Fourier Intelligence.

Mr Koh explained that many factors have contributed to China's prominence, including significant investment in research and development, specifically in the fields of AI and robotics, which he said has given China an edge.

“The vast market offers unparalleled opportunities to test, improve and expand the use of humanoid robots. This can facilitate rapid and frequent updates and improvements, giving Chinese companies a competitive edge,” said Mr Koh.

America also wants to dominate in this field.

To compete with China's ambitions, American startup Agility Robotics, which develops and manufactures humanoid robots, said it will produce hundreds of its Digit robots by 2025. The company is building a factory in Oregon that is expected to open later this year.

“We will be producing hundreds of humanoid robots by 2025, and then increasing production to thousands of humanoid robots in the following years,” said Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics.

Peggy Johnson said her company is well positioned to attract customers and accelerate production, and welcomes competition. E-commerce giant Amazon is testing Agility Robotics robots in its warehouses to help automate some functions.

Besides the startup Agility Robotics, several other key players in the US are also flexing their muscles in the race to produce humanoid robots.

For example, Figure AI, a $2.6 billion company, recently signed a deal with artificial intelligence startup OpenAI to develop next-generation AI models for its robots. The company also signed a deal with automaker BMW to test its robots in its manufacturing process.

Meanwhile, Texas-based company Apptronik has also signed a partnership with automaker Mercedes to test how its Apollo robot can support manufacturing assembly lines.

Tesla, the electric car company of billionaire Elon Musk, also has its own ambitions for humanoid robots and has announced that it wants to start selling the Optimus humanoid robot in 2027.

The importance of high technology in the current geopolitical context

The development and use of high technology, especially humanoid robots and AI, are seen as key factors in determining the power and national security of nations. Therefore, competitions in this field are considered extremely important and have a huge impact on the participating nations.

In the current geopolitical context, Julian Mueller-Kaler, Director of the Center for Strategic Foresight at the non-profit Stimson Center (USA), said that high technologies such as humanoid robots and AI represent the pinnacle of technological development and act as symbols of power.

The United States is defining national security through the prism of dominance, not just militarily and politically, but also economically and technologically, said Julian Mueller-Kaler.

The US is investing strategically in these advanced technologies as part of its efforts to gain an edge, while using other measures to thwart China's development in this field.

Over the past few years, the US has implemented controls on semiconductor exports to China to limit the country's high-tech capabilities.

However, Mr. Julian Mueller-Kaler said that China has overcome this challenge. US sanctions have strongly boosted China's semiconductor industry, with most of the world's fastest-growing chip companies now Chinese.

Humanoid robots are the peak of a new “hype cycle”

Last August, the Beijing government announced the creation of a $1.39 billion fund to develop humanoid robots. At the time, the capital was already home to 100 companies researching and manufacturing robots.

However, Li Boyang, chairman of EX Robots, a humanoid robot company based in China's Liaoning province, said China is facing challenges in moving robots out of the lab and toward mass production.

Agreeing with Mr. Li Boyang's opinion, a representative of the robot research and production company Boston Dynamics (USA) also said that deploying humanoid robots on a large scale is an extremely big challenge.

While there are obstacles to widespread adoption of the technology, the potential benefits are huge. Will Jackson, CEO of UK-based humanoid robot design and manufacturing company Engineered Arts, said mass production of humanoid robots could increase a country’s power by increasing its workforce and population.

“If you can mass produce humanoid robots, you have created digital citizens. They don’t complain, they don’t go on strike, they don’t demand workers’ rights,” added Will Jackson.

However, Mr. Jackson also warned that we are at the peak of the “hype cycle,” with a lot of talk about what this technology can do. According to research and advisory firm Gartner, the hype cycle is a graphical model that describes the life cycle of emerging technologies. It shows the level of interest and adoption of these technologies over time.

The humanoid robotics industry is expected to be boosted by the newly announced GR00T Project by the US multinational technology company Nvidia. Accordingly, the GR00T Project is a software platform developed by Nvidia, designed to accelerate the development and application of humanoid robots. The goal of the project is to create a common platform that allows robot developers to easily create humanoid robots that can learn, adapt and move flexibly in the real world.

Thus, the creation of humanoid robots is not only a technical challenge but also a fierce race between countries to gain competitive advantage in the global economy. Leading countries such as the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Germany are investing heavily in research and development of humanoid robots, with the goal of creating the most advanced, intelligent and widely applicable machines.

This race is not only economically beneficial, but also contributes to promoting technological innovation and solving pressing social problems. Humanoid robots have great potential to assist the elderly, people with disabilities, and those working in hazardous environments. They can also be used to perform complex and tedious tasks, freeing up human labor to focus on more creative and valuable work.