"Tiangong" made a stunning appearance, how far is the humanoid robot from life?

Globe.com

2024-04-30 06:41Posted on the official account of Shaanxi Global Network

[Global Times reporter Leng Shumei Chen Zishuai] is gray-black, 1.63 meters tall, weighs only 43 kilograms, and can run stably at a speed of 6 km/h...... The world's first full-size humanoid robot "Tiangong", which is purely electric and human-like running, made a stunning appearance in Beijing on April 27. When will humanoid robots like "Tiangong" enter thousands of households and provide meticulous services and companionship for people's daily lives? Zhang Rui, founder and executive director of Beijing Tieren Technology, told the Global Times, "This is the ultimate dream of every humanoid robot developer." ”

Full-size humanoid robot "Tiangong"

It has been applied in some fields

Zhang Rui told the Global Times, "The reason why humanoid robots are named 'humanoid' is to pursue the simulation of human forms, behaviors and even thinking patterns. Humanoid robots can be seamlessly integrated into a variety of scenarios without making large-scale changes to the existing environment, using their flexible and dynamic execution capabilities to meet complex and dynamic task needs. In addition, the humanoid features allow them to easily manipulate human tools, further expanding their field of application. ”

The Global Times reporter noticed on April 29 that unlike foreign robot products that often bend their knees or "ostrich-like" walking, the gait of "Tiangong" is more anthropomorphic and natural. Xiong Youjun, general manager of Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, said in an interview with the Global Times that through the self-developed advanced algorithm and other technical advantages, the "Tiangong" robot is not only stable, but also more energy-saving and has a stronger load capacity. At the same time, "Tiangong" has open source openness and compatible scalability, which can realize open call communication interfaces, and flexibly expand software and hardware functional modules to fully meet the needs of different application scenarios.

Zhang Rui said that humanoid robots have been applied in some fields, the most prominent of which is the aerospace field. Robots are primarily used to replace humans in dangerous and complex operations, ensure the safety of astronauts, and increase the efficiency and success of space missions.

In recent years, the continuous innovation and breakthrough of artificial intelligence technology has indeed provided humanoid robots with more powerful perception, decision-making and execution capabilities. This allows humanoid robots to understand human language more accurately, recognize environmental information, and make more rational decisions and actions. In the future, the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots will enable robots to have a higher level of autonomy and intelligence. In the home field, intelligent robots can take on housework, such as cleaning, recording, taking care of children and the elderly, and can even understand the preferences of family members and provide personalized services. In the medical field, AI robots can assist doctors in performing surgical operations, reducing the workload of medical staff and improving surgical accuracy. In industrial production, artificial intelligence robots can realize the efficient operation of automated production lines, improve production efficiency, and reduce production costs.

"China and the United States are on the same level"

The "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China in November 2023 proposes that by 2025, the humanoid robot innovation system will be initially established, and breakthroughs will be made in a number of key technologies such as "brain, cerebellum, and limbs" to ensure the safe and effective supply of core components. In 2027, the comprehensive strength will reach the world's advanced level and become an important new engine of economic growth.

In March this year, the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center announced that it would soon release the first generation of general open humanoid robot fuselage, which attracted global attention to the development of Chinese's humanoid robot industry and its supporting industrial chain. Xiong Youjun said, "China's humanoid robots are not lagging behind foreign countries, and it can be said that China and the United States are on the same level." He told the "Global Times" reporter that at the end of this year, domestic leading enterprises will deliver humanoid robot products in batches for industrial scenarios such as automobile manufacturing, and humanoid robots can be widely used in many fields within 5 years. As for when humanoid robots will be able to enter the family, Xiong Youjun said that it should be divided into two steps, one is to realize the companion function of emotional communication, and the other is to realize the function of housework, which requires more long-term development time. "Looking to the future, China's performance in the field of humanoid robots will eventually be as 'dominant' as mobile phones and electric vehicles. This time we are still full of confidence. ”

At Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) on March 18, the company's CEO, Jensen Huang, introduced nine humanoid robots, two of which were developed by Chinese companies, the H1 robot from Hangzhou Unitree Technology Co., Ltd. and the PX5 robot from Xpeng Pengxing. According to the Global Times, the H1 is a full-size general-purpose humanoid robot that can run, moving at a speed of 3.3 meters per second, and is the world record holder for full-size electrically driven humanoid robots. The robot has improved whole-body dynamic coordination, and can group dances and even backflips.

A full-size general-purpose humanoid robot H1 that can be grouped and danced

Key technologies need to be broken through

While the combination of AI and robotics brings many advantages, developers must also face the challenges and problems that come with it. "First of all, as robots become more autonomous, ensuring the safety and controllability of their behavior has become an urgent problem. Second, the integration of AI and robots may lead to the disappearance of a large number of traditional jobs, triggering the adjustment of the employment structure of society. In addition, protecting personal privacy and preventing data breaches has become an important topic. ”

At the same time, the hardware challenge is an important difficulty. Although at the algorithmic level, we can achieve a variety of complex functions and performances, robot hardware often struggles to achieve the desired output power and efficiency, involving numerous technical details and engineering challenges that require continuous optimization and improvement.

On the other hand, the current progress of AI technology is mainly limited to the deepening and innovation of the logical level, and the breakthrough of thinking and emotion is still insufficient. To achieve a 70% similarity with human emotions, Zhang Rui believes that it will take another 5-10 years to achieve it. Huang optimistically predicts that artificial general intelligence that can pass human testing is likely to be on the horizon within five years, but acknowledges that the difficulty lies in the lack of a common definition of how the human mind works. Liu Wei, director of the Human-Computer Interaction and Cognitive Engineering Laboratory of Beijing Post and an expert in human-computer hybrid intelligence, believes that general artificial intelligence may be a false proposition, not only because the current artificial intelligence is far from reaching the level of general intelligence, but also because its essence is that it cannot use intelligence to perform a variety of tasks and learning like humans.

Liu Wei said that the development of general intelligence is facing three major bottlenecks: technical, biological and social. The technical bottleneck is manifested in the fact that the AI system needs to have higher computing power, more advanced algorithms and more efficient data processing methods to achieve more complex and intelligent functions, the biological bottleneck is mainly reflected in the fact that our understanding of the operation mechanism of the cognitive ability of the human brain is still very limited, and more in-depth neuroscience and cognitive research is needed to achieve a similar level of intelligence, and the social bottleneck includes the integration of the AI system and human society, such as cultural differences, ethics and morality, privacy protection, etc. "Overcoming these bottlenecks requires interdisciplinary collaboration and continuous innovation efforts, and only by achieving breakthroughs in technological, biological and social aspects can general intelligence move towards a more mature and comprehensive development, but it is extremely difficult to achieve. ”

Although there are many problems and challenges, Zhang Rui firmly believes that with the gradual improvement of technological progress and related management measures, humanoid robots will show their unique charm in more fields and make more contributions to the development of society.

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