, Columnist
China’s Robot Craze Has Found Its Purpose
Beijing has heavily hyped the march of the machines. Now it’s mission critical.
Robotic hype cycles have come and gone.
Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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For much of the year, Chinese state-backed media has had a field day promoting the idea that the era of humanoid robots isn’t coming. It’s already here.
These machines and their proponents know how to put on a show. Robots took center stage, performing a traditional dance at the highly watched CCTV Lunar New Year broadcast earlier this year, and participated in a half marathon last month. Two robot boxers are set to compete in the world’s first machine-on-machine showdown. Even China-wary US outlet Fox News has been impressed by their bots’ Kung Fu moves.