Ryan Knutson

Yoko says there's a few reasons why the Chinese government is betting big on humanoid robots.

First, China sees humanoids as a way to potentially fix a looming demographic problem.

The country's population is aging, and Beijing is worried that someday there won't be enough workers to keep the economy going.

Robots could be used in factories.

So, you know, they could, for instance, help carry very heavy things that might be too strenuous for a human to carry or just do repetitive work.

And the factory line, usually it's already designed for humans, so you don't have to significantly change the line layout.

Humanoids are also taking on people-facing jobs.

You've got things like robot hotel receptionists, airport cart handlers, museum guides, and they're even starting to care for the elderly.

You know, the elderly people, you just have less workers that are able to do that kind of work.

So with that demographic issue in mind, I think they find robotics to be very important.

It's almost like a labor solution.

Yeah, that's right.

I think an element of that is that.

And with such rapid pace of aging, you're definitely going to need caretakers.

And there may not be enough caretakers to look after these older people.

And humanoids are considered to be one potential technology to help China cope with aging.

Bigger picture, China sees humanoid robots as the next phase of the AI race.

In the Chinese government's most recent five-year plan, which lays out bold and broad goals for the country, humanoids are referred to as embodied AI.

In other words, we've come a long way when it comes to artificial brains, and now we need to work on the artificial bodies.

And China is well positioned to do that already.