China’s humanoid robot army is already outgrowing America’s

When Elon Musk announced plans to produce an army of Tesla bots in Silicon Valley later this month, humanoid robots were already being produced and sold to consumers in China.

Chinese and US companies have begun a battle to create the world’s best robots. Experts say that although it is still early days, China is the leader in the amount of robots delivered to consumers, and America is ahead in the quality of the robots shown.

Musk danced with Tesla’s Optimus robots at his company’s shareholders meeting and outlined plans for a factory in Fremont; He said that this factory will one day have the capacity to produce one million robots a year, and that this factory will sell for about $20,000 in today’s dollars. Unitree Robotics, one of China’s leading robotics companies, already has a humanoid robot on the market that can walk, dance and perform basic tasks. The cheapest version costs around $6,000.

While the cheap Unitree bot is much less complex than Optimus, its early entry into the real-world market at an affordable price shows China’s superiority. PK Tseng, an analyst at technology consultancy firm TrendForce, said the country has the parts, production facilities and labor pool needed to bring rapidly developing robots to market quickly and cheaply.

“While the United States is a leader in technological innovation, China stands out in implementation speed,” he said. “The real turning point will come as humanoid robots move beyond R&D prototypes into large-scale use.”

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) estimates that there are at least 80 humanoid robot companies in China; This figure is five times that of the USA. A Morgan Stanley report on humanoid robots earlier this year estimated that Chinese companies have introduced twice as many robots as U.S. companies since 2022, while Chinese organizations have filed more than three times as many patents using the word “humanoid” in the past five years.

In the foreground is Unitree, which went viral in January when its humanoid robots performed a lively Chinese folk dance, walking rhythmically while tossing and twirling handkerchiefs. This model, which costs about $90,000, won the inaugural race at the inaugural Beijing Humanoid Robot Games in August, taking 6½ minutes to run about a mile.

Primary school students affiliated with Hefei Normal School interact with the humanoid robot “Xiao An” after science class in Hefei city, Anhui province, China, on October 27.

(China News Service via Getty Images)

The company has become a darling of Chinese tech and is preparing for an initial public offering at a valuation of up to $7 billion.

The ultimate goal of a general-purpose robot that can pack items, do household chores, and assist with surgical procedures is still years away. Humanoid robots are not yet fully autonomous and are mostly purchased by hobbyists, research institutions or manufacturers. Hyundai Motor Group uses robots produced by Boston Dynamics in its automobile factories. In China, humanoid robots are also purchased and rented for entertainment purposes, dancing and performing at events.

According to TrendForce, Optimus, Tesla’s latest generation humanoid robot, vastly outperforms products from leading Chinese manufacturers, including Unitree, in terms of body and hand versatility, payload capacity and battery life. Another advantage that US robotics companies have is advanced artificial intelligence capabilities, which are vital in the development of robots that can learn to perform basic human tasks on their own.

Musk says Tesla’s advantage is that it has the engineering capability to build limbs, the artificial intelligence to power brains, and the manufacturing know-how to mass produce robots. The next generation predicts that Optimus’s movements will be indistinguishable from those of humans.

“It will look like there is a human-like person in the robot suit,” he told shareholders this month. “It’s going to be something really special.”

His prediction recently came true in China. Electric vehicle maker cut off your synthetic skin and reveal its mechanical innards.

By prioritizing commercialization, Chinese manufacturers are relying on government support and manufacturing prowess to gain the upper hand in the last frontier of technology competition with the United States, similar to how they have dominated other industries such as solar panels and electric cars.

“They’re not the first mover on anything. But they’re producing lots of robots, selling them really cheap, and just trying to get them out into the world,” said Erik Walenza-Slabe, managing partner of Asia Growth Partners, a Shanghai-based consultancy that helps businesses grow in Asia. “This may be a better strategy in the long run.”

Morgan Stanley estimates that the humanoid robot market will be worth $5 trillion by 2050; At this point, China will likely have nearly four times as many humanoid robots as the United States. Even if U.S. robot makers like Tesla ramp up production, their efforts could be hampered by a reliance on components such as screws, motors and batteries that must be sourced from China, bank analysts said.

A robot rehearses a 100-meter race ahead of the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing in August.

(Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)

While China’s mass deployment may help its companies surpass the United States in real-world training, public setbacks have highlighted the limitations of Chinese technology and potential risks to human safety.

At the first robot half marathon held in Beijing this year, many mechanical competitors crashed and overheated, and only six of 21 completed the course. Last December, a Unitree boat crashed and began to shake during a demonstration, prompting ridicule online.

Meanwhile, the trade war between China and the US could prevent either side from developing better bots.

Both countries have sought to build and leverage their strengths in high-tech fields. The United States restricted semiconductor exports to China in an attempt to hinder its rival’s technological development. Meanwhile, China has a near monopoly on rare earth metals, a critical component in batteries and computer chips, and has stepped up export controls to squeeze the United States and other countries.

To achieve self-sufficiency, China has made advanced robotics a central tenet of its national strategy for technological and economic development. Earlier this year, China announced that it would invest $138 billion in robotics and artificial intelligence and establish a state-backed venture fund.

“What China has wanted to do since entering the robotics game is to bypass the dominance of traditional technology by foreign vendors,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst of artificial intelligence and robotics in Asia for Omdia, a research firm. “The only reason China can do this is because they have the policy support.”

The lack of similar government policies in the U.S. could hinder efforts to compete with China, especially as deployment and data become central to training AI robots, IFR secretary general Susanne Bieller said.

“In China, the government is encouraging companies to try new technology, and that’s a critical advantage. That means American startups investing in humanoids will have to work a lot harder for that,” he said.