Shaoshan LiuandDing Ning

Opinion | China’s edge in the AI robotics race lies in the Greater Bay Area

Thanks to the Greater Bay Area’s tech champions Huawei, BYD, Tencent and DJI, China commands nearly 40 per cent of the global supply chain for embodied AI

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Robots are on display at a booth at the World AI Conference in Shanghai on July 7, 2023. Photo: Bloomberg

Shaoshan LiuandDing Ning

Published: 9:30am, 23 Mar 2024

The recent unveiling of Figure AI’s humanoid, powered by OpenAI’s technologies, has taken the world by storm. Demonstrating unparalleled capabilities in understanding and reacting to its environment, this humanoid represents a monumental leap in the realm of intelligent, interactive robotics.

At the heart of this groundbreaking fusion lies embodied artificial intelligence. Embodied AI transcends traditional AI by integrating intelligence into physical entities like robots, enabling them to perceive, learn and dynamically interact with their environment.

This revolutionary approach not only allows robots to adapt and evolve in response to their surroundings but also paves the way for an accelerated shift towards the “autonomy economy”, transforming society.

The strategic significance of embodied AI places it at the forefront of the global technological race. In analysing the supply chain, our findings highlight the pivotal role China’s Greater Bay Area, with Shenzhen at its core, plays in the country’s embodied AI supply chain. This dominance underscores the area’s critical contribution to China’s competitive edge.

Embodied AI technologies encapsulate two major areas, the robotic “brain” empowered by AI foundation models and cloud computing platforms, and the robotic “body” which includes the integrated hardware and computing components.

The core components of the embodied AI supply chain include 3D vision sensors, force sensors to measure the force exerted on or by a robot, and micro-drive systems, which are miniature motors and actuators that enable precise movements and controls.