Humanoid robots will not supplant human workers or cause mass unemployment, according to a senior Chinese official working with the technology.
Liang Liang is a deputy director at the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, one of the largest tech hubs in Beijing.
In a press interview, he said that he didn’t believe that such robots would lead to unemployment, but rather would “boost efficiency or take on tasks humans are unwilling to do”.
This could include “exploring the vast universe or the ocean depths where people can’t go”, he added.
Liang was speaking in the wake of the world’s first half-marathon race featuring both humans and robots, which took place in Beijing last month.
The race featured 12,000 human contestants and 20 teams operating humanoid robots, with the biological and mechanical competitors running on adjacent tracks separated by a railing.
The robots were not expected to seriously compete with the fastest human runners over the 21-kilometre (13-mile) course and there was a large disparity.
The winner of the men’s race on Saturday finished in one hour and two minutes, while the fastest robot took nearly three times as long at two hours and 40 minutes.
Robot winner used algorithm to emulate human running
This was still seen as an impressive achievement though, as humanoid robots face numerous challenges related to issues including balance and battery power.
Robot contestants were allowed to get new batteries during the race, just as human competitors were allowed to take on water.
The robot winner, named Tiangong Ultra, was created by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre, also known as X-Humanoid.
Tiangong Ultra was aided by long legs and an algorithm that helped it imitate the way that humans run at long distances.
Liang said that the separate tracks for human and robot competitors echoed the way that he envisaged humans and robots working together in the future.
He said that each type of competitor pushed their own limits during the event, adding that the robots “aren’t trying to take over the human course to sprint to the finish line”.
Besides the sports-focused Ultra model, X-Humanoid also demonstrated other robots and prototypes with capabilities ranging from picking up litter to putting fruit on a plate and completing warehouse logistics tasks.
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