At the 8th Hongqiao International Economic Forum held today, Wang Xingxing, founder and chairman of Unitree Robotics, delivered a speech emphasizing the company's commitment to advancing robots capable of performing practical tasks. Unitree aims to achieve large-scale deployment of robots in factories, households, and diverse environments in the future.
Wang revealed that Unitree has invested significant resources in developing dexterous robotic hands and enabling end-to-end task execution in industrial settings. However, he acknowledged that achieving stable and efficient end-to-end robotic models in factories remains a major global challenge.
Wang noted the booming robotics industry this year, citing a 51% growth in China's industrial robot exports. He optimistically estimated that the smart robotics sector could see an average growth rate of 50% to 100% in the first half of the year.
The key bottleneck for humanoid robots, according to Wang, lies in the development pace of embodied AI models. While progress has been slower than anticipated, he envisioned the field's "ChatGPT moment" emerging within the next two years: "I hope to see robots capable of completing 80% of tasks in unfamiliar scenarios through voice or text instructions, whether in our lab or any global research facility."
Wang concluded that breakthroughs in embodied AI still involve an element of chance, and whichever team achieves this milestone would undoubtedly lead the world in embodied intelligence.