Henrietta Levin

speaker

569 appearances 6 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 6 Aug

Henrietta Levin’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 6 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 2.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

Pekingology · Embodied AI and the Transformation of China’s Robotics Industry · 23 Jul 2026 podcast

And I think robotics and embodied AI fit into the new five-year plan in a really interesting way.

So we'd love to hear more about how the new plan treats this sector.

And then relatedly, to what degree does that matter?

Like when we look at these high level Chinese policy documents, is that really driving the direction of the sector and in what ways?

It's such a good point that a huge effect of prioritization in the five-year plan or in other policy planning documents in China is directing capital and also a signal to local governments that this is where they should be directing capital.

But of course, that has given rise in some sectors, I mean, maybe most famously in EVs and batteries, but...

in a lot of sectors to what is now affectionately termed involution, which effectively, you know, overcapacity leading to overcompetition, leading to no one making any money, even in sectors that have demonstrated pretty incredible innovation.

So is there an involution risk with robotics or are we not seeing those challenges yet?

And presumably every local government wants to create their own local provider of everything, even if maybe that's not, strictly speaking, necessary for the success of the overall national sector.

And in looking at this array of robotics companies around the country, your report has a really interesting breakdown of where all these players are actually located in clusters across China.

And I thought it was interesting that your report observes that when it comes to humanoid robotics firms, the largest cluster by a significant margin is actually in Beijing.

clocking in at 17 companies in comparison to 11 in Shenzhen and nine in Shanghai.

And I think we don't often think of Beijing as like the hub of scientific innovation necessarily.

So that stood out to me.

Why Beijing?

It seems like maybe the big companies in Beijing have more space to take a step back from immediate commercial pressures or immediate application.

Whereas in Shenzhen, it's more about how do we get this on a factory floor as soon as possible?

And if we think about China's national capability when it comes to the cutting edge of robotics and embodied AI, does it make sense to think of the aggregate capabilities and potential of these different companies?

Or should we see them exclusively as competitors with each other?

the best of everyone.

Showing 121–140 of 569 · page 7 of 29