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Chinese AI and robotics start-ups from AgiBot to XtalPi respond to Xi’s self-reliance call
The Chinese president met representatives from several AI and robotics start-ups during a visit to Shanghai
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Coco Fengin Guangdong
A number of fast-rising start-ups in China’s artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics sectors vowed to “break foreign technological barriers” and “insist on self-reliance”, following a visit from President Xi Jinping in Shanghai.
Their remarks echoed Xi’s message emphasising the importance of technological self-reliance, particularly in AI, during his visit to the Chinese financial capital on Tuesday. It was his first inspection trip since the US imposed sweeping tariffs, which have intensified the trade war and technological rivalry between the world’s two largest economies.
While looking at robots and smart AI glasses, Xi noted, “AI is a young industry and a field for the young”, offering encouragement to China’s new generation of entrepreneurs.
Shanghai-based humanoid robot start-up AgiBot, which aims to deliver between 3,000 and 5,000 robots this year, demonstrated its dual-arm G1 robot cleaning up rubbish on a desk and the bipedal X2 riding a bike, according to a WeChat post from the company.
Xi humorously inquired whether robots would one day be able to “join the football team”. A self-proclaimed fan of the sport, the president said in 2011 that he dreamed of China hosting and winning the football World Cup.
AgiBot founder Peng Zhihui – a well-known tech influencer and former “genius recruit” at Huawei Technologies – said Xi expressed “great attention and care for the industry’s development” and that the company would “overcome difficulties”, “break down foreign technical barriers” and “enhance the global competitiveness of China’s embodied intelligence [sector]”.
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