Tencent Exec: Humanoid Robots Still Await Their ‘iPhone Moment’

(Digital Phablet) July 29 — Despite rapid advancements in robotics technology, the embodied intelligence sector has yet to produce a breakthrough product equivalent to the iPhone, according to the head of Tencent Holdings’ robotics laboratory in China, who shared insights with Digital Phablet recently. This suggests that meaningful commercial breakthroughs are still on the horizon.

The realm of embodied intelligence is not merely pre-iPhone; it hasn’t even reached the earliest stages of brick mobile phones, mentioned Zhang Zhengyou, director of Tencent’s Robotics X Laboratory, during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai that concluded yesterday.

“In the 1990s, chunky mobile phones, though quite expensive, were widely used. Today, most humanoid robots are still in the research and development phases, primarily focused on data collection,” he explained.

“In the future, humanoid robots will find application across various industries and fields. As production costs decrease, they will become a common presence in households. I am confident that this will happen during my lifetime,” Zhang added.

Founded in early 2018, the Robotics X Lab was one of the first teams within a Chinese tech company to explore frontier robotics technology. Although they haven’t yet launched market-ready products, their latest embodied intelligence platform, Tairos, is already being implemented in robots created by leading companies like Yuejiang Technology, Leju Robotics, Zhongqing Robotics, and Unitree.

Tencent’s strategy, based in Shenzhen, is to foster open collaboration within the robotics industry by providing numerous developers of humanoid robots with a “brain” via the Tairos platform, Zhang explained.

“When we started the Robotics X Lab seven years ago, it was almost impossible to find manufacturers capable of producing humanoid robot hardware,” Zhang noted. “We had to develop both software and hardware ourselves. However, since mid-2023, many robotics firms have entered the scene, offering a variety of hardware such as robot dogs, humanoid robots, tactile sensors, and dexterous manipulators.”

“The industry landscape is changing rapidly. To push the boundaries of embodied intelligence technology, we need to work closely with hardware producers; otherwise, our innovations will remain confined to the laboratory,” he emphasized.