Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock once predicted the humanoid robot industry: "In the next decade, humanoid robots will become as ubiquitous as smartphones, revolutionizing the way we produce and live." In fact, with the rapid progress of artificial intelligence, machine vision, mechanical control and other technologies, humanoid robots are moving from the laboratory to practical applications, and gradually entering many industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and medical care. Major technology companies have stepped up their investments in an attempt to seize this future market. However, among the many contenders, which one is the strongest? Let's take a look at the current cutting-edge technology in the field of humanoid robots and see how far these robots have developed.
The United States: Technological innovation leads the market
Tesla: As a leader in autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, it has launched the humanoid robot Optimus with its powerful AI technology accumulation. Aiming to perform dangerous, repetitive, and tedious tasks, Optimus is expected to achieve low-volume production by 2025 with a price of between $20,000 and $30,000, and is expected to play an important role in manufacturing, logistics, and even the home sector in the future.
Boston Dynamics: Known for its highly dynamic robot Atlas, it has demonstrated amazing athletic abilities and is able to perform difficult maneuvers such as backflips and parkour, mainly in search and rescue, industrial operations, and other scenarios. Its leading edge in robot motion control and perception technology has made it a technology benchmark in the industry.
Agility Robotics: Digit robots are used in the warehousing and logistics industry because they can walk stably in complex environments and handle goods. Digit's stability and load capacity make it an important part of solving warehouse automation challenges.
Figure AI, a startup founded in 2022, quickly rose to prominence with the Figure 02 robot. It has received investment from giants such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, and has been tested at BMW's manufacturing plant, showing the potential for application in the manufacturing of humanoid robots.
Figure: Humanoid robots compete in the future, who can lead the future? (Source: Unitree Robot official website)
China: a fast-rising star in the industry
Unitree is competitive in robot performance and cost control, and its products are suitable for education, scientific research, entertainment and other fields. Its technology accumulation and product landing capabilities make it an important player in the field of Chinese humanoid robots.
Fourier Intelligence mainly focuses on medical rehabilitation robots, and its products have been deployed in more than 2,000 institutions in more than 40 countries, and have outstanding advantages in the medical robot market segment.
EngineAI's PM01 humanoid robot has high flexibility and high-speed movement ability, and can rotate 320 degrees at the waist, which is highly adaptable, and is expected to be launched in early 2025, targeting the commercial service field.
UBTech Robotics' Walker S1 humanoid robot has been put into use at BYD's factory and is focused on manufacturing applications to improve productivity and alleviate labor shortages.
Other regions: Characteristic development
Known for its high-fidelity robots, Engineered Arts in the UK has gained popularity in exhibitions, education and entertainment, with an emphasis on natural human-machine interactions.
The Phoenix humanoid robot developed by Sanctuary AI in Canada is capable of performing a variety of tasks, demonstrating the deep integration of artificial intelligence and robotics, with the goal of realizing a general artificial intelligence robot.
At present, humanoid robots are still in the early stages of development, and each company has its own focus, and it is difficult to simply judge who is the strongest. Companies such as Tesla and Boston Dynamics are leading the way in technological innovation, while agile robotics and Figure AI are making progress in commercialization. Chinese companies have demonstrated competitiveness in cost control and industry-specific applications.
In the future, humanoid robots will continue to develop in the direction of intelligence, low cost and wide application, and the competition between enterprises will be more intense. Whoever can take the lead in making breakthroughs in practical applications and solving problems such as safety, energy consumption, and cost may stand out in this competition.
