- Humanoid robots will first fill roles in harsh environments that are difficult to recruit for, tackling labor shortages, according to the CEO of UBTech.
- The company is actively accelerating the large-scale production of its industrial humanoid robots.
As humanoid robots enter the market, they will first replace factory jobs that are hard to fill and have harsh working environments, said Zhou Jian, founder and CEO of UBTech.
This can alleviate labor shortages in traditional factories and allow humans to focus on more innovative pursuits like art and philosophy in the future, Zhou said in an interview with local media Yicai, according to a video released today.
Many traditional manufacturing plants are currently facing an exodus of young workers. The younger generation prefers delivering food over taking up simple and tedious assembly line work.
With the arrival of an aging society, rising labor costs will threaten the competitive advantage of China's manufacturing industry.
If humanoid robots are widely adopted across all positions, it could make up for the shrinking industrial workforce and further reduce overall production costs, Zhou said.
To speed up the mass production of industrial humanoid robots, the company recently reached a strategic partnership with Siemens. It will leverage Siemens' digital industrial software solutions to accelerate the manufacturing process.
The company has also invested heavily in building a smart manufacturing base for commercial humanoid robots in Shanghai this month. The future annual capacity of this facility is expected to exceed 3,000 units, said Hou Zongfang, vice president and strategic investment advisor, earlier this month.
Last July, the company launched Walker S2, a full-sized industrial humanoid robot designed for smart manufacturing scenarios, comprehensively improving its adaptability to complex factory environments.
