It is a vacation within the US as we speak and markets are closed however it’s additionally a vacation in China as lunar new 12 months celebrations again up.
Essentially the most-watched TV present in China yearly is the CCTV Spring Pageant gala and up to now few years, it is became a demostration of the chopping fringe of humanoid robotics.
This 12 months’s version is reside proper now and what I’ve seen up to now is spectacular. It is one other leap ahead from final 12 months’s version, which went viral on the time. The martial arts showcased robots working at a minimum of an elite human stage with swords and nunchucks and all types of different eventualities, together with them leaping off springloaded boards.
So far as I may see it was flawless. There was even one half the place a robotic falls over and it appears to be like just like the performers are coming over decide him up after which the machine spins and jumps to its toes — all a part of the act.
Different acts confirmed humor and quite a lot of interactions with robots.
The performances did seem like reside however you by no means actually know as there weren’t many broad pictures.
In any case, China is successful this race and it is clear the place it is headed. These robots are doing fake combating however it will not be lengthy earlier than they do actual combating — and never with swords and staffs.
The businesses behind the featured robots have been Unitree, Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab. Notably, Unitree is getting ready for an IPO this 12 months in what’s going to absolutely be one of many greatest home IPOs ever.
Reuters notes that President Xi has met with 5 robotics startup founders this 12 months in comparison with 4 in electrical automobiles and 4 in semi-conductors in the identical timeframe.
By way of US markets, I simply cannot see how Tesla has the valuation it does. The automotive aspect of the corporate is failing as gross sales stoop precipitously and robotaxi — even when profitable — simply is not that large of a market.
In robotics, Optimus is not even a working demo whereas China has the flexibility to construct these machines at unprecedented scale.
