China Can Build Kung FU Robots—but It Still Cannot Teach Them To Work

China's humanoid robots can do many things, but teaching them to reliably perform routine tasks remains a much harder challenge (Credit: Aideal Hwa/Unsplash)

China's humanoid robots can sprint, dance and even perform backflips, but teaching those machines to reliably carry out ordinary work remains a much harder challenge. The gap between spectacular physical demonstrations and useful, general-purpose labour is now one of the biggest questions facing China's rapidly expanding robotics industry.

Spirit AI, a Chinese start-up developing the software that controls humanoid robots, believes a major breakthrough could arrive by mid-2027.