By Eduardo Baptista, Ju-min Park and Laurie Chen <\/p>\n
BEIJING, Aug 20 (Reuters) – The CEO of Chinese humanoid robot unicorn Unitree said on Thursday the industry is edging towards a “ChatGPT moment” for robot brains, after the company’s blockbuster Shanghai listing crystallised China’s ambitions to lead the next frontier \u200cof AI-powered machines. <\/p>\n
Shares in China’s best-known humanoid robot maker fell 11% on Thursday, a day after soaring nearly sixfold in their market debut, highlighting intense \u200cinvestor enthusiasm for a fledgling sector that enjoys strong backing from Beijing. <\/p>\n
“We are marching towards a ‘ChatGPT moment’ in embodied intelligence,” said Wang Xingxing, the Hangzhou-based startup’s founder and CEO, at a major robot conference \u200bin Beijing. <\/p>\n
The global AI boom that has reshaped the world economy was sparked in late 2022 by ChatGPT’s breakthrough large language model, a watershed moment that drove mass adoption. No comparable inflection point has yet emerged for world models, the physical AI simulation systems designed to help robots understand and navigate real-world environments. <\/p>\n
Wang said the industry is nearing a breakthrough where robots can be placed in unfamiliar environments and complete most tasks through simple voice or text instructions. <\/p>\n
“We hope that in the future, we can see a robot \u200cbe introduced into an unfamiliar household and it can achieve \u2060approximately 80% of tasks successfully through voice or text commands,” he said. <\/p>\n
“It is an important tipping point for the robot industry to usher in explosive growth.” <\/p>\n
MAJOR LEAP IN ROBOT SOFTWARE STILL A FEW YEARS AWAY <\/p>\n
At the same time, Wang cautioned that a major leap \u2060in robot software could arrive within two to three years in an optimistic scenario, or within five to 10 years at the latest. <\/p>\n
“Relative to the mood around World Robot Conference and Unitree’s spectacular IPO, Wang Xingxing was notably sober about current capabilities,” said Georg Stieler, head of automation at robotics consultancy Stieler. <\/p>\n
Unitree is the world’s largest producer of robot dogs and \u200bthe \u200bsecond-biggest maker of humanoid robots by shipments, according to industry data. <\/p>\n
It rose to fame with impressively \u200bchoreographed performances of robots dancing and performing kung-fu, showcased on \u200cChinese television, and is increasingly deploying its machines in real-world industrial settings. Its IPO prospectus shows most customers are universities and research institutions. <\/p>\n
Wang He, founder of Chinese robotic startup Galbot, expects the sector’s “ChatGPT moment” to arrive by 2028, defining it as the point when robots can perform about 70% to 80% of everyday tasks without specialised training. <\/p>\n
“With continued accumulation of data and further technological breakthroughs, we expect to reach the ‘ChatGPT moment’ for embodied intelligence by 2028,” he said. <\/p>\n
UNITREE FOCUSED ON WORLD MODELS <\/p>\n