Observations from the World Robot Conference: Dextrous hands, simulated skin, robots are becoming more and more human-like

With delicate skin, nimble hands, and the ability to learn new actions by observing others and understanding the environment, robots are evolving to become more and more like real humans.

From August 21st to August 25th, the largest domestic robot exhibition - the World Robot Conference (WRC 2024) was held at the Beijing Etrong International Exhibition Center.

27 robots gathered on the same stage. Yushu Technology's "Wukong" robot walked around in a red cape; Beijing Jushen Intelligent Innovation Center's humanoid robot "Tiangong 1.2 MAX" walked for 17 minutes, crossing different booths and crowds, alongside the Tesla humanoid robot Optimus; EX ROBOT's humanoid robot Su Shi recited poetry with people; Stardust Intelligent humanoid robot moved its arm joints to write calligraphy on site; Shurui surgical robot demonstrated peeling quail eggs...

What kind of humanoid robots does future human society really need? There is currently no standard answer to this question, but through this exhibition, we can see the industry's recognized development direction and the future of robots envisioned by major companies.

Hottest Employment Direction for Humanoid Robots: Working in Car Factories

"This year's World Robot Conference is an important exhibition in the first year of commercialization of humanoid robots." Ma Yang, CEO of Beijing Tashan Technology Co., Ltd., said in an interview with China National Radio, "People outside the industry may see more clearly than those of us inside the industry which scenarios are truly needed by the public, can be well commercialized, and may move towards household and mass scenarios."

During a visit to the exhibition booth, "China's first stock of humanoid robots" UBTECH's humanoid robot demonstrated its simulation workshop quality inspection, sorting, and handling capabilities, attracting most people to stop and watch.

As early as February this year, UBTECH's industrial version humanoid robot Walker S had entered Nio and other car factories for training. In Nio's second advanced manufacturing base in Hefei, Walker S completed tasks such as door lock quality inspection, seat belt detection, headlight cover quality inspection, and affixing car labels at the front of the car. UBTECH has now signed cooperation agreements with FAW-Volkswagen, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor, Beijing Jushen Intelligent Robot Innovation Center, and others.

Tesla's Optimus leading the way, humanoid robots flocking to work in car factories is a major trend this year.

In addition to UBTECH Robotics, OpenAI and Figure have collaborated to launch the general-purpose robot Figure 02, which entered the BMW Spartanburg factory in early August to perform component placement tasks. Domestic robot company Yunshu Technology has also partnered with Nio and others to allow humanoid robots to try out as workshop porters.

"The factory is a relatively universal and controllable scenario." UBTECH Robotics Vice President and Executive Dean of the Research Institute Jiao Jichao once explained to Tech Traveler why car factories have become the first landing application scenario for humanoid robots.

In the era of electrification, car production has become highly automated. Taking Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory's straight-line production line as an example, the 637-meter-long production line, where only installation and quality inspection processes involve a large number of workers working around the line. Parts shuttle between dense robotic arms, assembling into cars. The force, angle, and number of turns of each screw are constantly recorded by the cloud system.

But in the mind of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, only fully automated factories can truly maximize car production efficiency. He believes that humanoid robots have higher computing power and production efficiency than humans, making them more suitable for industrial assembly line production.

"Although the direction of humanoid robots entering the factory is valuable, it has not yet achieved commercial closure." Wang Xingxing said in the above interview that the cost of a humanoid robot is still higher than that of human labor, and has not yet formed a positive industry value loop. Although this year is the first year of commercialization, the "iPhone moment" of humanoid robots may not appear until the next 3-4 years.

General intelligent robots are the ultimate goal of all humanoid robots. The accumulation of data and scenarios is crucial for the iterative "evolution" of humanoid robots. The car factory is the first scene open to humanoid robots, and the robots needed for this scene in the future may not necessarily have to be "humanoid".

Craze for Dexterous Hands: The "Last Inch" of Robots

AI Lightyear found that compared to the past, the number of dexterous hands exhibited at this exhibition and the number of humanoid robots equipped with dexterous hands have increased.

UBTECH Robotics Walker S, Zhiyuan Quintuplet Robot, the latest generation of full-size humanoid robot CL-2 by Zhejiang University Robot, and Rethink Robotics' mechanical arm are all equipped with dexterous hands. For the first time, the FTP series humanoid robot with human-like five-finger dexterous hands made its debut, and the Casia Hand-L lightweight dexterous hand from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation also performed "hand dance" on site

"Robots are the 'last mile' of automation, and dexterous hands are the 'last centimeter' of robots." This has always been the view of Sun Fuchun, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Tsinghua University and deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems.

Dexterous hands are a new type of end effector for robots, and up to now, they are the most human-like mechanical hands.

Shenwan Hongyuan believes that the surge in popularity of dexterous hands is due to the fact that humanoid robots have achieved basic capabilities in walking, balancing, and other movements after more than a year of iteration. In the future, to achieve specific functions in specific scenarios, perception and manipulation of dexterous hands are important breakthrough directions. "Touch is the second most important source of information after vision."

Taking Tesla's Optimus as an example, the first generation without dexterous hands can grasp heavy objects but can only judge whether to grasp them visually. However, for objects like eggs with spherical surfaces that are smooth and fragile, visual judgment alone cannot confirm the strength and stability of the grasp. The second generation equipped with dexterous hands has tactile sensors on the fingertips, allowing it to grasp an egg with just two fingers and determine whether it is held securely through pressure and friction.

In addition to touch, human hands also have a high degree of freedom. According to the "Survey of Hand Posture Estimation Methods," human hands have a total of 26 degrees of freedom, including 20 degrees of freedom in the body and 6 degrees of freedom in the wrist. There is currently no mechanical hand that surpasses the flexibility of the human hand.

Zheshang Securities predicts that the global market space for humanoid robot dexterous hands will be approximately 56.8 billion yuan by 2030.

There is still controversy over the practicality and necessity of dexterous hands. Fu Sheng, Chairman and CEO of Cheetah Mobile and Chairman of Huntkey Starry Sky, believes that it is difficult for dexterous hands to be implemented.

"I have always believed that in the robotics industry, whether humanoid or dexterous hands, it is essentially a kind of self-indulgence of humans." Fu Sheng said in a video the day before the World Robotics Conference opened, stating that robots do not necessarily have to be made to be like humans in order to perform labor.

Fu Sheng believes that the advantage of dexterous hands lies in biomimicry. People naturally think that by creating a mechanical hand that looks like a human hand, it can replace the vast majority of human work today. In addition, dexterous hands are similar to human hands, and using human hands for remote sensing operations can help dexterous hands obtain more data.

"Data is indeed a major bottleneck in the current development of humanoid robots." Jiao Jichao said Recently, it is rumored that Tesla's Optimus has released a large number of "data collection worker" positions, with an hourly wage as high as 344 yuan. The job requires employees to carry about 13.6 kilograms of equipment every day, wear VR headsets, and work continuously for 7 hours. Applicants need to be similar in height to Optimus, between about 1.7 to 1.8 meters. According to Business Insider, Tesla has recruited more than 50 data collection workers in the past year.

According to Animesh Garg, a senior researcher at NVIDIA, Optimus needs millions of hours of data to fully prepare for factory work.

"In fact, most of human hand movements are grasping. Most tasks can be completed with just two fingers," Fu Sheng gave an example. Even the most agile surgical robot today, Da Vinci, performs surgeries and sutures with just two fingers.

Fu Sheng calculated that if the robot's end only uses two fingers instead of a dexterous hand with five fingers, costs could be reduced by 70%-80%. "A dexterous hand is a good research direction, but true commercialization must progress step by step, considering commercialization, costs, and technological difficulties."

Author: Cheng Xiaoyi, Source: Deep Web · Tencent News Xiaoman Studio, Original Title: "Observation of World Robot Conference: Dexterity, Synthetic Skin, Robots are becoming more and more human-like"