Technology

Chinese Robot Maker Predicts Chores Will Be Able To Do Themselves In Just A Few Years

DGtal, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The head of a Chinese company that makes humanoid robots speculated that machines may soon walk into a stranger’s house to handle their chores on command.

Wang Xingxing, founder and CEO of Unitree Robotics, told the crowd at Beijing’s World Robot Conference that he was optimistic robots will perform the majority of household cleaning tasks, Reuters reported. The robot conference runs Wednesday through Sunday and will showcase more than 150 products from 300 companies.

“We hope that in the future, we ​can see a robot be introduced into an unfamiliar household and it can achieve approximately 80% of tasks successfully through voice or text commands,” Wang said at the conference. “It is an ​important tipping point for the robot industry to usher in explosive growth.”

Wang warned that this would require a leap in robotics technology that would not be possible for at least another two to three years, Reuters reported.

AI startup Microagi, a German robotics firm, raised $55 million in July to train robots with videos of people cleaning apartments.

Unitree, Stieler Technology & Market Advisory and 1X Technologies each did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Unitree demonstrated several of its robots on X, such as the “Superman,” which can jump roughly six and a half feet and run up to roughly 28 mph, the company shared in an X post Monday.

Another Unitree model, the “G1,” is controlled with voice commands to accomplish actions that are “autonomously generated by AI in real time,” the company said in a May X post.

These robots still have a ways to go before they can become household assistants.

Unitree’s “Superman” is depicted slamming into a wall, unable to stop running, in a separate X post. The robot reportedly reached a speed of approximately 28 mph before it crashed.

During his speech, Wang alluded to ChatGPT’s massive success and surge in popularity in 2023 and suggested AI robots may achieve similar results.

“We are marching towards a ‘ChatGPT moment’ in embodied intelligence,” Wang added, Reuters reported.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) previously barred new U.S. equipment authorizations for robots from Unitree and other foreign companies, the agency’s July fact sheet stated.