Tag: robots

Automating Pregnancy through Robot Surrogates

The most human of experiences has been automated as China unveiled a new AI robot that is capable of carrying a fetus to full term, replicating the entire pregnancy process from conception to birth. Kaiwa Technology in Guangzhou plans to release these robots in 2026 for $1,400, or a small fraction of what couples pay for surrogates. Has science gone to far in the quest to play God?

These “pregnancy robots” are vastly different from traditional incubators that are utilized for premature or at-risk newborns. The fetus develops within the robot’s artificial womb in synthetic amniotic fluid. Scientists have developed artificial placentas equipped with a tube system operated by AI, which can feed the baby oxygen and nutrients during gestation. Humans have never procreated through an artificial womb nor has a robot replicated the whole gestation process.

Surrogacy was deemed unethical, and the Chinese government banned the practice in 2001. The government prohibited the trade of ova, sperm, embryos, and other related reproductive items. If not outright banned, most nations have a complicated legal framework surrounding surrogacy and parental rights. The Chinese government believes gestational surrogacy exploits women in poverty, and the law recognizes the birthing mother as the legal mother. Still, repealing the one-child policy and infertility have caused a spike in interest.

Some believe this technology will be a breakthrough for couples suffering from infertility. Outside China, same-sex couples could also benefit from AI-driven surrogacy that costs a fraction of the price. Women may not be exploited for their wombs, but what about the babies born to non-human figures?

The mother-child relationship is the genesis of life and creation. The age-old debate of nature v nurture always concludes that both are essential. Scientists conducted a number of unethical studies during the last World War to see what would happen if a baby were deprived of nurture. Naturally, these studies could never be replicated again.

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China’s Industrial Robots are Changing Manufacturing

China is leading the world in industrial robots or programmable machines that are pioneering fast and cost-effective manufacturing. China currently holds over 50% of the world market share in industrial robots capable of assembly, production line handling, service tasks, machine feeding, palletizing, packaging, and more. Automation is fueling Chinese manufacturing in every sector from automotives to electronics. The advancement of AI will soon provide China with a cutting-edge ability to usher in a new era of humanoid robots that will become a portion of the future workforce.

China installed around 290,000 new industrial robots in 2024, nearly twice as many as the European Union, the United States, and Japan combined. Around 86,000 industrial robots went onto the market across the EU last year, while Japan implemented 43,000 and the US around 34,000. The market share of industrial robots was expected to surpass 2.1 million in 2024, valued at around $9.4 billion USD.

Chinese manufacturers are bypassing rising labor costs and an aging workforce through the use of robots. Factories are scaling their operations to turn China into the world’s manufacturing base. China has the ability to produce these robots at one-third the cost of other nations as it produces 90% of the components required for AI industrial robots. However, China is heavily reliant on exports for the remaining 10% of key components. Foreign robot makers like FANUC, ABB, and Yaskawa have major production facilities in China, facilitating knowledge transfer to Chinese firms.

Will robots and AI replace human workers? They’ve already begun to do so. Some estimates believe that automation has replaced 1.7 million workers in China over the past 25 years. Around 80% to 90% of low-skilled labor that only requires simple or repetitive tasks has been assigned to robots. In auto manufacturing, for example, robots have been trained to perform 70% of assembly from welding to painting. Estimates believe that around 35.8% of China’s entire workforce will be automated by 2049, replacing 278 million Chinese workers.

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China Unveils World’s First Pregnancy-Simulating Humanoid Robot

Chinese researchers are developing the world’s first humanoid robot capable of simulating pregnancy, with a prototype expected to launch in 2026.

The device, created by Guangzhou-based Kaiwa Technology, features an artificial womb integrated into a robotic abdominal module to replicate the full gestation.

The artificial womb is an advanced incubation pod that mimics the conditions of a uterus and is designed to handle the full human pregnancy cycle, from conception to birth.

Priced below 100,000 yuan, or about $14,000, the robot aims to assist infertile couples and individuals who prefer to avoid biological pregnancy, especially young women who wish to have children.

Kaiwa Technology founder Zhang Qifeng, who earned his PhD from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University in 2014, announced the project at the 2025 World Robot Conference in Beijing.

The company, established in 2015, has previously produced service and reception robots.

Zhang described the technology as mature, noting that the artificial womb would use amniotic fluid and nutrient hoses to support fetal growth.

The robot builds on existing artificial womb research, including a 2017 experiment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where premature lambs grew in a “biobag” filled with synthetic amniotic fluid.

In that study, published in Nature Communications, lambs developed normally over four weeks with nutrients supplied via umbilical cord tubes.

However, experts emphasize that replicating human pregnancy involves complex hormonal and immune interactions not yet fully achievable. Details on how Kaiwa Technology will surmount these challenges is not available yet.

News of the development trended on Weibo, garnering over 100 million views.

Supporters highlighted potential benefits for women’s liberation from pregnancy burdens and new options for infertility treatment.

Critics raised concerns about ethical issues, including fetal-maternal bonding and the sourcing of eggs and sperm.

Infertility rates in China have risen from 11.9% in 2007 to 18% in 2020, according to a report in The Lancet.

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Beijing’s first World Humanoid Robot Games open with hip-hop and martial arts

Humanoid robots danced hip-hop, performed martial arts and played keyboard, guitar and drums at the opening ceremony of the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Thursday evening.

The competition begins Friday with more than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries, including the U.S., Germany and Japan, competing in sports including soccer, running and boxing. The event comes as China has stepped up efforts to develop humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence.

During the opening ceremony, the robots demonstrated soccer and boxing among other sports, with some cheering and backflipping as if at a real sports event.

One robot soccer player scored a goal after a few tries, causing the robot goalkeeper to fall to the ground. Another player fell but stood up unassisted.

The robots also modeled fashionable hats and clothes alongside human models. In one mishap, a robot model fell and had to be carried off the stage by two human beings.

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Humanoid Robot Learns How To Fold Laundry

We’ve expanded our coverage of humanoid robots and robot dogs for very good reason: “iPhone moment” for these AI-powered machines is just a few years away. These bots are expected to enter homes by the end of the decade, if not the early 2030s. We even got our hands on a Chinese Unitree robodog to test its capabilities, and yes, there’s even a Picatinny rail for a flamethrower attachment. 

Robot companies, such as Figure AI, have been training humanoid robots for factory applications, as well as the home… 

“Today we unveiled the first humanoid robot that can fold laundry autonomously,” Figure AI wrote on X earlier today. 

On its website, Figure AI, the startup founded by Brett Adcock, who also launched drone maker Archer Aviation, boasts that its robots have now mastered the task of folding laundry.

Here’s more: 

Folding laundry may seem mundane to a person, but it is one of the most challenging dexterous manipulation tasks for a humanoid robot.

Why is this important? Well, as Figure AI explains:

The same general-purpose architecture, and the same physical platform, can seamlessly transition from industrial logistics to household chores. As we scale real-world data collection, we expect Helix’s dexterity, speed, and generalization to keep improving across an even broader range of tasks.

That’s right, these robots are being trained to enter the home and complete basic tasks, like folding laundry, putting groceries away, and even cooking. 

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced earlier this year that it is entering the AI-powered humanoid robot race, aiming to design and develop a bot for “household chores.” 

The next frontier for big tech is placing a humanoid robot in every home – likely a 2030s story. 

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China: Robot doctors at world’s 1st AI hospital can treat 3,000 a day

The world is making significant inroads into utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology to advance functions in various domains, especially healthcare.

We have seen AI technologies helping to advance personalized medicine, predictive analytics, drug discovery and development, smart virtual health assistants, and furthering medical imaging and diagnostics.

Now, a Chinese state media outlet reports that the country has developed its first AI hospital town, a concept in which virtual patients are attended to by AI doctors.

The system, developed by a team at Tsinghua University in Beijing, aims to advance medical consultation by training doctor agents in a simulated environment. The team says this will equip them to evolve independently and enhance their ability to treat diseases.

According to Global Times, researchers claim the model will help further AI doctors’ diagnostic capabilities from the virtual realm to real-world applications and the potential for high-quality, affordable, and convenient healthcare services for the public.

Virtual patient simulation

The Agent Hospital concept enables real doctors to treat virtual patients, offering medical students advanced training opportunities. By simulating a diverse array of AI patients, medical students can confidently devise treatment plans without the risk of harming real patients due to decision-making errors.

In this virtual world, all doctors, nurses, and patients are driven by large language model (LLM)–powered intelligent agents capable of autonomous interaction.

According to Global Times, evolved AI doctor agents in the Agent Hospital have achieved an impressive 93.06 percent accuracy rate on a MedQA dataset (US Medical Licensing Exam questions) covering major respiratory diseases.

These intelligent agents can simulate the entire process of diagnosing and treating patients, from consultation and examination to diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.

According to the team, AI doctors can treat 10,000 patients in just a few days—a task that would take humans at least two years to complete.

The university team points out that AI hospital town can simulate and forecast various medical situations, including the emergence, spread, and containment of infectious diseases within an area.

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A New Fear Unlocked.

We all understand that mass adoption of humanoid robots is still years out. But the timeline is accelerating—bipedal, autonomous robots and so-called “robo-dogs” are already reaching early adopters. While mass adoption may still be years away, the affordability inflection point could arrive by the early 2030s—perhaps bringing us closer to the kind of household companion seen in Bicentennial Man, the late-1990s film starring Robin Williams. 

But warning signs around AI and humanoid robotics are already flashing yellow, with a hint of red. First, a recent study from AI research firm Anthropic warned advanced AI bots could be willing to harm humans to avoid being shut down or replaced. Second, investing legend Paul Tudor Jones issued a stark, apocalyptic warning about AI back in May. And now, in China, humanoid robots have gained the ability to recharge autonomously. 

According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese firm UBTech Robotics rolled out the Walker S2, the world’s first humanoid robot capable of autonomously swapping its own batteries, allowing it to operate 24/7 without human assistance. 

This development underscores China’s rapid progress in robotics, drones, AI, smartphones, semiconductors, and electric vehicles—technologies that often share similar production ecosystems. The nation that controls the development and supply chains of these technologies will dominate the 2030s. 

The emerging fear isn’t just that China is becoming a “robotics powerhouse,” as Moody’s noted last week—but that its robots are now gaining the ability to operate autonomously and recharge themselves, edging closer to full independence from human control. With a mind of their own, there’s no telling what these robots will do if one of them becomes rogue. Remember this…

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Chinese Military Unveils Robot Murder Wolves, Drones That Definitely Violate Asimov’s Laws

The Chinese military conducted tactical exercises integrating robotic wolves and infantry-operated drones, underscoring Beijing’s push to deploy unmanned systems in modern combat operations, according to state-run media.

The 76th Group Army’s drills focused on battlefield coordination between personnel and autonomous technologies for reconnaissance, strategic point clearing, fire support and breaching defensive positions, according to a military statement. The exercises represent China’s latest effort to advance unmanned warfare capabilities amid growing global competition in military robotics.

The robotic wolves, branded “steel warriors,” debuted at the 2024 Airshow China exhibition before being deployed in joint exercises with Cambodia. During the 2024 “Golden Dragon” exercise, China fielded a rifle-armed robotic wolf for assault operations. The follow-up “Golden Dragon 2025” exercise featured a UAV equipped with a QBZ-95 assault rifle providing fire cover for ground units.

The military demonstrations come as Chinese defense analysts raise concerns about the ethical implications of autonomous weapons systems. In a recent People’s Liberation Army Daily op-ed, analysts Yuan Yi, Ma Ye and Yue Shiguang called for “ethical and legal research” to address risks from militarized robots, warning that malfunctioning units could cause “indiscriminate killings and accidental deaths.”

The PLA Daily authors referenced Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, which prohibit robots from harming humans, arguing that militarized humanoid robots “clearly violate” these principles. They proposed overhauling Asimov’s framework for military applications, emphasizing that combat robots must adhere to laws of war by “obeying humans,” “respecting humans” and “protecting humans.”

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Robots gain human trust with the right kind of eye contact

As humans and robots interact more, eye contact plays a powerful role. It’s more than a gesture – it shapes how we connect and communicate. And as we age, science may offer new ways to keep those social instincts sharp.

A new study reveals something surprising: not just eye contact, but how and when we make it shapes communication. This discovery matters for humans, robots, and the spaces where both interact.

The research was led by Dr. Nathan Caruana, a cognitive neuroscientist in the HAVIC Lab at Flinders University.

Dr. Caruana’s team observed how people communicated during tasks with a virtual partner. The goal was to uncover patterns in gaze that signaled help or intent.

The researchers asked 137 participants to perform a block-building task with a virtual partner. Throughout the task, the experts watched eye movements closely. They studied not just where people looked, but why, when, and in what order.

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Epstein-Funded MIT Lab Hosted Panel On Giving Pedos Child Sex Robots

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) lab previously funded in part by Jeffrey Epstein hosted a panel where attendees openly discussed the idea of using “child-size sex robots” to treat pedophiles.

The MIT Media Lab’s July 2016 conference on research questions without “social and moral constraints” included a panel discussion arguing that pedophilia should not be seen as a “moral failing” but rather a medical condition and that the development of “child-size sex robots” is an inevitability, a transcript and video of the event shows.

The Media Lab’s ties to the disgraced financier span a 17-year period in which the lab readily accepted Epstein’s cash donations and facilitated introductions with its scientists on-campus and off, according to a 2020 fact-finding report commissioned by the university. The lab’s director contemplated inviting Epstein to one of its conferences in July 2016, the report states, the same month of the conference where the child-size sex robots were proposed, the only conference the lab hosted that month, according to its website.

“Once child-size sex robots hit the market, which they will, is the use of these robots going to be a healthy outlet for people to express these sexual urges and thus protect children and reduce child abuse? Or is the use of these robots going to encourage, normalize, propagate that behavior?” said one panelist. “We can’t research it [because of reporting restrictions]. But I do wonder whether they’re doing more harm than good in these cases. Because as much as people want these sexual urges — the urges, not the act — to be a moral failing, they are a psychological issue.”

“The issue of normalization, as you brought up. How does that change of society as a whole, and the acceptance of certain kinds of behavior?” another panelist said, while warning about the possibility of the robots being diverted to a black market for entertainment. “The notion of studying sexual deviance and actual normal humans interacting with these things can provide the basis for a deeper understanding of how that operates.”

The previously unreported panel comes to light as the public’s gaze once again fixates on Epstein’s ties to academia, Wall Street and government amid the Trump administration’s move to close the book on investigating the matter any further. The Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation announced in a July 7 memo that they had uncovered no “client list” and would not make further disclosures, spurring incredulity among the president’s supporters and driving a fracture between U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. The memo also stated “Epstein harmed over 1,000 victims.”

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