Move Over, Humans. China's Robots Are Taking Over

**Ryan Knutson** (0:05)
Our colleague Yoko Kubota was in Beijing a few months ago and visited a strange place.

**Yoko Kubota** (0:15)
So it's actually only open on the weekends and you have to book a tour. It's very competitive to book this tour.

**Ryan Knutson** (0:22)
Yoko went to a mall, but not just any mall. This mall was filled with robots.

**Yoko Kubota** (0:31)
It's basically an exhibition of all kinds of different robots that China has to offer.
On the first floor, you could see, for instance, household robots that can do certain types of tasks like clean the house or make coffee, et cetera. And the other thing I guess that was personally more impressive is probably the robots that are able to sort out medicine, some robots that are able to conduct some dental surgery or operations.

**Ryan Knutson** (1:13)
A robot dentist?

**Yoko Kubota** (1:15)
Yeah, robot dentist basically.
We can go to the second floor. There they show robots that are a bit more fun. So I saw one where a robot was wearing a Michael Jordan jersey and shooting basketball. There was a kind of a group of small robots that was dancing to dance music. Kids like that one a lot.

**Ryan Knutson** (1:43)
Robots making lattes and wearing basketball jerseys might all sound a little silly.
But Yoko says people should be taking these robots more seriously. Because this technology is shaping up to be a new frontier in the AI arms race between the US and China.

**Yoko Kubota** (2:01)
China is really all in the area of robotics and humanoids. You know, they are using subsidies. They are attracting a lot of good talents. Some are coming back from overseas. The country is really focused on it and all in.

**Ryan Knutson** (2:17)
Compared to what's happening in the US, all of this investment is giving China's humanoid companies a solid head start. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Ryan Knutson. It's Wednesday, April 29th.
Coming up on the show, China is building a legion of humanoid robots. Should the US be worried?

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**Ryan Knutson** (3:32)
Humanoid robots, the ones that actually look like humans, with limbs and torsos, have taken China by storm in the last few years.
The government is constantly showing off their rapidly improving physical capabilities. One robot just beat the human world record in a half marathon in Beijing.

**Yoko Kubota** (3:49)
I think one of the most notable robot-related events, annual events, in China in the last two years or so has been the CCTV Lunar New Year gala. Every year, they have this show on TV, right around Lunar New Year, where people sing and dance. And then for the last two years, robots have also been participating in this gala.

**Ryan Knutson** (4:21)
If you haven't seen this video, by the way, it is wild. The robots are doing high-level martial arts, perfectly synchronized, and even doing back flips.

**Yoko Kubota** (4:30)
Those robots have definitely surpassed my physical ability. You can just really sense the speed of development of technology.

**Ryan Knutson** (4:45)
Yoko says there's a few reasons why the Chinese government is betting big on humanoid robots.
First, China sees humanoids as a way to potentially fix a looming demographic problem. The country's population is aging, and Beijing is worried that someday there won't be enough workers to keep the economy going.

**Yoko Kubota** (5:03)
Robots could be used in factories, so they could, for instance, help carry very heavy things that might be too strenuous for humans to carry, or just do repetitive work. And the factory line, usually, it's already designed for humans, so you don't have to significantly change the line layout.

**Ryan Knutson** (5:23)
Humanoids are also taking on people facing jobs. You've got things like robot hotel receptionists, airport cart handlers, museum guides, and they're even starting to care for the elderly.

**Yoko Kubota** (5:35)
The elderly people just have less workers that are able to do that kind of work. So with that demographic issue in mind, I think they find robotics to be very important.

**Ryan Knutson** (5:46)
It's almost like a labor solution.

**Yoko Kubota** (5:48)
Yeah, that's right. I think an element of that is that.