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World’s first mass-produced humanoid robot? China start-up Fourier Intelligence eyes two-legged robots with AI brains
- The Shanghai-based company plans to begin mass production of its GR-1 robot by end of 2023 and deliver thousands of units next year
- Fourier hopes to collaborate with major AI companies to work on the ‘brain’ of its bipedal robot
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Ann Caoin Shanghai
When Fourier Intelligence unveiled its lanky, jet-black humanoid robot GR-1 at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai in July, it instantly stole the show.
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While the global technology community has been fixated on artificial intelligence (AI) software since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November, the Chinese-made GR-1 – said to be capable of walking on two legs at a speed of 5km an hour while carrying a 50kg load – reminded people of the potential of bipedal robots, which are being pursued by global companies from Tesla to Xiaomi.
For Fourier, a Shanghai-based start-up, GR-1 was an unlikely triumph.
“It is an unprecedented attempt by us – we barely had any reference when it came to the technology,” Alex Gu, founder and chief executive of Fourier, said in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post in the Chinese financial capital.
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China-made social robots could help country's ageing population
China-made social robots could help country's ageing population
Fourier’s focus has not always been on humanoid robots. Named after the 19th-century French mathematician and physicist Joseph Fourier, the company was originally set up in 2015 in Shanghai’s tech hub Zhangjiang with the aim of developing rehabilitation robotics.
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