Global cooperation is needed to ensure the rapid progress in robotics benefits societies.
Humanoid bionic robots made by Chinese robotics company EX Robot demonstrate their functionality at the 2023 World Robot Conference in Beijing, China, August 18, 2023. Credit: Costfoto/NurPhoto via AP Photos
Last month, the 2023 World Robot Conference unfolded in Beijing, a spectacle that sparked global interest in recent technological advances in robotics. Over 100 enterprises bringing over 600 exhibits attended the conference, showcasing robot applications in the manufacturing, health, education, services, and medical sectors. A panorama of robotic marvels included humanoid bionic robots and quadrupeds, as well as robots for agricultural harvesting, industrial welding and surgery. Among the standout attractions were bionic robots with realistic skin, hair, eyes, and traditional outfits mimicking the revered eighth century Chinese poets Li Bai and Du Fu, representing a vivid mesh of tradition and technology. A wall of eerie robot heads suggested the capacity for modular production.
As China, the U.S., and the world stand on the brink of further transformations in bionic robotics, we are faced with the unprecedented task of guiding the future with foresight and prudence, so t
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