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On November 14, Chinese robotics firm UBtech released footage showing hundreds of Walker S2 humanoid robots standing in precise formation inside a warehouse. The machines turned their heads in unison, waved their arms and marched into shipping containers – a scene so visually arresting it evoked sci-fi blockbusters like I, Robot.
Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of leading US robotics company Figure, responded with disbelief.
He immediately took to social media to suggest the footage was computer-generated.
“Look at the reflections on this bot, then compare them to the ones behind it. The bot in front is real – everything behind it is fake,” Adcock wrote, later adding: “If you see a head unit reflecting a bunch of ceiling lights, that’s a giveaway it’s CGI [computer-generated imagery].”
In response to Adcock’s post, Shenzhen-based UBtech swiftly released video shot with an FPV or “first-person view” drone, complete with raw audio, inviting sceptics to witness the robots’ feats first-hand.
Yet Adcock remains unconvinced, and he is not alone.
When China’s Fujian aircraft carrier debuted its electromagnetic catapult system, US military experts similarly questioned its capabilities. In such cases, assumptions rooted in past experience appear to cloud perception of China’s present-day industrial reality. UBtech’s chief brand officer, Tan Min, addressed the scepticism head-on. “Much of the doubt stems from a lack of understanding of China’s manufacturing capabilities and the collaborative, systemic strength of our supply chains,” he said.
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“Critics should come to China and see for themselves the vibrant growth in the humanoid robotics sector and engage directly with the industry chain.”
The South China Morning Post has reached out to Adcock for comment.
The scepticism is somewhat understandable. Only a year ago, many robots were still learning to mimic human gait. Today, humanoid industrial robots are already being deployed in new energy vehicle manufacturing, 3C (computer, communication, consumer electronics) smart production and intelligent logistics.
China’s humanoid robotics sector is speeding ahead, propelled by open-source collaboration, tightly integrated supply chains and the rapid iteration of real-world applications.
“A firm commitment to open source is one of the key drivers behind our robots’ continuous evolution,” Yao Qiyuan, co-founder of Shenzhen-based EngineAI, told Science and Technology Daily. “By open-sourcing deployment and training code, we attract global developers to jointly build the application ecosystem.”
This strategy has drastically sped up innovation. EngineAI now achieves version iterations for a single product on a weekly basis. Going from design to a working prototype takes only about six months, a pace unimaginable in traditional manufacturing.
In “Robot Valley” in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, hundreds of robotics research and development firms and suppliers are clustered together, creating a complete industrial ecosystem.
A local slogan captures the ecosystem’s density: “Upstairs and downstairs is upstream and downstream – the industrial park is the industrial chain.”
The government of the southern Chinese city has further supported growth by opening public sector scenarios – such as inspection and firefighting – to provide “jobs” for robots.
The synchronised feats of China-made robots have prompted disbelief in some quarters. Photo: Handout
“Some robotics firms struggle to find viable business models right after a product launch,” said Zhao Bingbing, head of the Longgang district Artificial Intelligence (Robotics) Office.
“Commercial opportunities only become clear through continuous real-world use.”
Falling costs are another crucial factor driving adoption. In October, Beijing-based Noetix Robotics released a humanoid robot priced at less than 10,000 yuan (US$1,412) – aimed at hobbyists and programming education – just six months after it placed second in a humanoid robot half-marathon.
“All technology starts out expensive and low-volume before becoming affordable and mass-produced. Our goal is to make consumer robots widely accessible as quickly as possible,” Noetix founder Jiang Zheyuan told China-Venture, a business news website.
According to UBtech CBO Tan, the industry is now on the cusp of a breakthrough. About 200 start-ups in China – each with distinct technical focuses and positioning – are finding their niche and achieving targeted advances across different application scenarios.
Together, they are helping the sector cross the critical threshold “from the ground up”, Tan said.
He acknowledged that China still trailed more established Western companies in core components such as servo drivers and ball screws, but noted that the country held distinct advantages.
“Thanks to advances in AI, China now hosts the world’s largest R&D teams for humanoid robotics,” Tan said. “In addition, riding the wave of new energy vehicle development, it has cultivated a globally leading, large-scale motor industry.”
Shanghai Kepler Robotics CEO Hu Debo said that about 80 per cent of the components in their humanoid robots were self-developed, with only a small number of computing chips being imported.
“In the global humanoid robotics arena, China stands out with its strong supply chain, diverse application scenarios, and astonishing iteration speed,” Hu said in an interview with Shanghai-based media outlet Guancha.
“China and the US are in the first tier, followed by several European countries. Meanwhile, Japan, once a traditional robotics powerhouse, has fallen behind.”
