Chinese 'robot brain' startup sees ChatGPT-style breakthrough as soon as next year

BEIJING, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Humanoid robots will be able to complete most general-purpose tasks from verbal instructions as ​soon as next year, although becoming useful around the house will take much longer, said the head of a leading Chinese company developing robot brains.

After ‌impressive hardware advances allowing Chinese humanoids to sprint, dance and do backflips on command, robot firms are increasingly focusing on the software that determines robots' intelligence and enables them to do more economically productive tasks, a field known as "embodied AI".

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"The brain is indeed the weakest linkv in the complete robotics stack," Gao Yang, co-founder and chief scientist of Spirit AI, told Reuters at its Beijing offices on Thursday. ## FOCUSED ON BRAINS

Spirit AI currently has tens ​of its own Moz1 wheeled humanoid robots deployed on production lines at battery maker CATL and retailer JD.com, which is also an investor.

The 300-person startup has raised over $670 million since its 2024 founding, ‌making it ⁠one of China's most rapidly capitalised embodied intelligence firms. It is currently valued at 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion). Gao declined to comment on any plans for an initial public offering.

"Progress is extremely fast. When Spirit AI was founded, a robot could perform only one isolated task well, like pouring water or folding a piece of clothing," said Gao.

"Today, robots operate across large spatial areas and execute continuous complex workflows."