Humanoids dance and thread needles as Japanese robotics developers look to outdo Chinese - Greenwich Time
Subscribe News # Humanoids dance and thread needles as Japanese robotics developers look to outdo Chinese By YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Mechanical hands dexterous enough to thread a needle, childlike dancing robots and adult-sized ones to...
Key takeaways
- The most recent wave of humanoid‑robot developments is being driven by a mix of industry partnerships, new reference platforms and commercial rollouts.
- In May 2026 London‑based Humanoid announced collaborations with Bosch and Schaeffler to scale production, while 1X Technologies began full‑scale manufacturing of its quiet‑operating NEO humanoid at a new California facility.
- Nvidia unveiled the Isaac GR00T reference humanoid, built on the Jetson Thor processor and integrating a Unitree H2 Plus body, Sharpa five‑fingered hands and an open software stack, and subsequently selected Unitree as the hardware partner for a research‑focused robotics system that will ship later in the year.
- Unitree itself is preparing an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR board and plans to release the upgraded H2 Plus in October, positioning the platform for university labs worldwide.
- Meanwhile, major tech firms are expanding their robot programs: OpenAI is hiring for a new robotics lab aimed at building a humanoid capable of household tasks; Meta has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence to bolster its AI models for humanoids; and Tesla’s Optimus is slated for limited public sales by the end of 2027 after recent factory trials.
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Humanoids dance and thread needles as Japanese robotics developers look to outdo Chinese
By YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) — Mechanical hands dexterous enough to thread a needle, childlike dancing robots and adult-sized ones to help with deliveries were on display Thursday as the Humanoids Summit Tokyo opened.
Among the dozens of companies taking part, including well-known players like Boston Dynamics and Toyota Motor Corp., the big stars now were clearly the Chinese.
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Chinese newcomers, like Booster Robotics and LimX Dynamics, took the technology initially developed in Japan and the U.S. and fine-tuned it, often for cheaper mass production. It’s a repeat of what happened in other Japanese industries, from consumer electronics to cellphones and electric vehicles. In humanoids, Japan was initially ahead but then failed to produce major commercial solutions.
Tim Hornyuk, author of “Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots,” who was at the event, categorized it as the so-called “Galapagos syndrome,” referring to how innovative Japanese products evolve in isolation and end up not translating for the international market.
More News The inner robotics workings were all courtesy of Unitree, a Chinese outfit, which is also working on a four-legged dog-like “stellar explorer.”
Experts say Japan, with its finesse in manufacturing, proved a good breeding ground for robotics development. The sociological backdrop of a public receptive to robotics also helped.
A recent Pew global survey showed that people in Japan are highly aware of AI but are less anxious about it, at about 28%, than people in the U.S. at 50%.
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Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co., a leader in robotics with its walking humanoid Asimo, first shown in 2000, was demonstrating a motorized four-fingered robotic hand that could screw on and off tiny bolts, or thread a needle.
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