How China Is Winning the Robot Wars

And What It Means for the World

The humanoid robot will be one of the most consequential technologies of the 21st century. It will transform manufacturing, logistics, elder care, healthcare, and eventually the domestic environment in ways that will reshape labor markets, economic growth patterns, and the distribution of power between nations.


The country that builds the robots — that sets the standards, trains the models, controls the supply chains, and captures the deployment data — will exercise influence over the physical infrastructure of the global economy in ways that have no precedent in the digital age.


The robot wars have begun. How they end will depend on choices being made now, in laboratories and factories and legislative chambers, by people who may not yet fully understand the stakes of what they are deciding.