The World Robot Conference opened in Beijing, with reports comparing China's lead in domestic humanoid robots and Japan's position as a lap behind in areas including foundation-model development.
The Chinese government has made the early mass production of humanoid robots a key strategic priority and established a consortium centered on state-owned enterprises to coincide with the conference, held from 19 to 23 August. More than 100 public- and private-sector organizations, including universities and companies, are reportedly mobilizing funding and infrastructure in an effort to narrow the gap with the United States.
AI companies in Xinhua and Zhongguancun have integrated video and synthetic data collected from across the country and have already accumulated 1.5 million hours of data. It has also been suggested that more than 100 million hours of data will be needed to build an advanced embodied large language model for household use.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's initial fiscal 2027 budget request totals ¥7.7268 trillion, including ¥1.4342 trillion for the development of foundation models for physical AI that operates robots and for strengthening the semiconductor manufacturing base. Reports have described Japan as a lap behind, including in comparisons with the slow pace of adoption in Europe and the United States.
As Japan faces accelerating population aging and decline, mass production based on proprietary technology has become an urgent priority. However, Japan is also said to be behind the United States and China in foundation-model development, and concerns have been raised about employment insecurity.