The “Guidance on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots” issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently has made a strategic deployment for the innovation and development of humanoid robots according to the time arrangement of planning for three years and looking forward to five years. “Economic Information Daily” reporter learned in an interview that at present, many technology companies in China are accelerating the layout of the humanoid robot industry track, focusing on breaking through a number of key technologies, promoting machine products, basic components, software innovation, and accelerating the application of humanoid robots for special environment, manufacturing, medical, domestic and other fields.

A number of industry insiders interviewed by reporters said that humanoid robots integrate advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, high-end manufacturing, and new materials, have great development potential and broad application prospects, and are a new track for future industries. Multi-party deployment will further gather resources to promote key technology innovation, expand application areas, and accelerate the commercialization process. It is expected that by 2030, China’s humanoid robot market is expected to reach about 870 billion yuan.

Height 1.65 meters, weight 55 kilograms, with fast walking, agile obstacle avoidance, steady downhill, anti-impact interference and other motion functions, this is the Shanghai Fourier Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. in July this year, the latest development of general humanoid robot GR-1. “With more than 40 degrees of freedom, the GR-1 has a highly bionic torso configuration and anthropomorphic motion control, which is expected to be applied in industrial, rehabilitation, home and other scenarios.” The relevant person in charge of Fourier intelligence told reporters.

From the development of humanoid robot “brain” based on artificial intelligence large model, to the creation of humanoid robot arms, dexterous hands and legs, and then to the release of self-developed humanoid robot products… Recently, many companies, including Xiaomi, Youbi, Yushu Technology, Da Robotics and other companies have announced new progress in the development and layout of humanoid robots.

“The development of humanoid robots is a forward-looking layout for the future industry, and the next 3-5 years will be a key incubation period for humanoid robots to move from the laboratory to industrialization.” Yang Ling, an analyst at CIDI Consulting intelligent equipment Industry Research Center, said that humanoid robots will drive a series of key technological innovations such as “brain”, “cerebellum” and “limb”, breakthroughs in key products such as machine and software, and the promotion and application of relevant technologies and products will greatly promote the formation of new quality productivity.

Industry insiders also pointed out that China’s humanoid robot industry has a certain foundation in the early stage, but there are still shortcomings and weaknesses in key basic components, operating systems, machine products, leading enterprises and industrial ecology.

EX robot co-founder Li Boyang told reporters that humanoid robots in the overall control of the hardware and software capabilities are still a lot of room for improvement, bipedal walking, dexterous hand grasp, intelligent expression interaction of these humanoid robots are also in the process of continuous improvement. In addition, the overall structure design and industrial design level of humanoid robots need to be improved.

“Humanoid robots require higher perception, motion control and interaction capabilities, which challenges the level of AI algorithms for humanoid robots.” Da robot founder, chairman and CEO Huang Xiaoqing told reporters.

It is worth noting that relevant policy deployment is further strengthening guidance and gathering resources to promote key technological innovation. The above “Guiding Opinions” proposed that, guided by breakthroughs in artificial intelligence technology such as large models, on the basis of mature robot technologies, breakthroughs should be made in the fields of humanoid robot “brain” and “cerebellum”, “limb” key technologies, and technological innovation systems. In addition, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other regions proposed to speed up the construction of regional humanoid robot industry innovation centers.

Enterprises have also further increased the intensity of innovation layout. Li Boyang introduced that at present, the enterprise has made a series of key technical achievements in the intelligent expression interaction of robots, mechanical dexterous hands, and multi-modal intelligent perception technology, which will further break through the process and production capacity of key technologies, and accelerate the development of bionic skin and robot flexible joints.

Huang Xiaoqing believes that the breakthrough of a new generation of AI technology has promoted the development of the humanoid robot industry to a new stage, and it is necessary to promote the integration and innovation of “artificial intelligence + mobile communication + robot”. At present, the company has launched the Robot GPT, a large model of multi-modal cognition in the field of robot manufacturing, and basically completed the research and development of the cloud brain operating system and the early industrialization work. The next step will continue to improve the robot’s multi-modal AI integration ability, including natural language understanding and expression, cognitive reasoning, task planning, robot behavior strategy and control execution.

While accelerating technological innovation and cultivating key products, many parties will also further expand the application of humanoid robots. The above “Guiding Opinions” put forward opinions and measures from the three directions of special fields, typical scenarios of manufacturing, people’s livelihood and key industries, including focusing on 3C, automotive and other key areas of manufacturing, improving the tool operation and task execution capabilities of humanoid robots, and expanding the service application of humanoid robots in medical, domestic and other areas of people’s livelihood.

“The highly humanoid design of humanoid robots is precisely to better adapt to the environment and interact with people, and the long-term market demand will be much higher than the current industrial robots, and the future will play a huge potential in industrial, rehabilitation, home, scientific research and other applications.” The relevant person in charge of Fourier Intelligence said that the company is working with a team with commercial scene experience or AI large model construction ability to develop functions for the needs of special scenes, of which GR-1 is expected to take the lead in the implementation of livelihood scenarios such as rehabilitation escorts.

Yang Ling believes that in the future, humanoid robots are expected to achieve more complex, flexible and changeable scenarios such as special, industrial and service applications by relying on their outstanding performance in human-computer interaction, autonomous decision-making of complex tasks, and situational awareness. It is necessary to further stimulate the innovation vitality of industries and enterprises, look forward to planning a number of application scenarios with strong characteristics, and promote the speed of product industrialization.

According to the International Robotics Association forecast, from 2021 to 2030, the global humanoid robot market size compound annual growth rate will be as high as 71%. Data from the Chinese Society of Electronics show that by 2030, China’s humanoid robot market is expected to reach about 870 billion yuan.