China’s Humanoid Robot Bubble: Good News For America?

Earlier this year, a Peter Diamandis report found about 100 companies working on humanoid robots globally. A few short months later, there are 150 just in China. In fact, the humanoid robot hype is getting so potentially overheated that China’s economic planning agency is warning its robotics sector that too many companies are working on the technology. Too many companies are working on humanoids in China right now, says Li Chao, the spokesperson for China’s the National Development and Reform In an odd way, that’s probably good news for the United States.

Trimming the number of companies making humanoid robots will certainly be efficient, resulting in fewer duplicative products, Chao says. The question for America is whether it will be more effective in the long run.

Probably not, according to former leader of NASA’s robotics and AI unit, who is currently chairman of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for consulting giant Alliant. Humanoid robots are incredibly important, Ambrose says, for national competitiveness and geopolitical power over the next decade and beyond. The Russia-Ukraine war – dubbed the First Drone War by Ambrose – shows how important robots are in the military. That includes flying robots (drones) but also land-based and seagoing robots.

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But robots are critical for peacetime success as well.