Chinese humanoid robots face challenge of their own capabilities

BEIJING — The big challenge for humanoid robots is still getting the technology to work well, according to industry leaders speaking alongside the World Robot Conference in Beijing this week.

Robots are not yet as efficient as humans, and take time to learn new skills, creating a bottleneck for the industry, Unitree’s founder Wang Xingxing said, addressing the conference one day after his company’s 460% IPO-day surge. His remarks underscored the challenges for humanoid robots entering the human workforce. Shares of Unitree fell 18.7% on Thursday.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission last month added foreign-made advanced robotic devices, including humanoids, to a list restricting imports to the U.S. The statement did not specify a country, and said retailers could still import models the FCC has previously approved.

But the impact of that limitation isn’t that great right now because there aren’t that many humanoids being used in the U.S., Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, told CNBC.

“Where the impact might be in the U.S. is on autonomous mobile robots, which are used in factories that much more than humanoids are,” he said.

The state of technology means companies deploying robots to increase efficiency aren’t even focused on humanoids right now.

“What I hear from customers in the U.S. [is that] ‘we want solutions. We have a problem. We need a solution. We don’t care if it’s a humanoid. We don’t care if it’s a traditional robot, a collaborative robot. We don’t even care if it’s a robot. We need a solution,” Burnstein said.

“So the onus is on the humanoid players to show we have a solution,” he said, noting the robots need to be affordable, safe and ready to use.

Keenon, a startup, develops humanoids to use in conjunction with simpler delivery robots to handle laundry services in hotels, for example, according to COO Wan Bin. Keenon’s business partners include Buffalo Wild Wings and Hilton.

Completing 50% of a task well is relatively easy, even 80%, he said. But to reach a 99.9% completion rate really tests engineering and training capabilities, Wan said.

He said the company has shipped more than 100,000 robots, and expects that to exceed 150,000 units by the end of next year.