A lot of impressive-looking humanoid robots being advertised these days, especially coming out of China (like this one). I wonder what's driving that? Are robot-grade servos getting so much cheaper these days?
Interesting. How does that translate into actually incentivizing the innovation? Subsidies, guaranteed purchase contracts, prize competitions, or something similar?
I don't understand how infrastructure could be the key component; it seems like a commodity in this era. Is advanced computing a requirement to build humanoid robots? The robots themselves likely aren't packing anything more high-spec than a gaming PC, and those parts don't need to be domestically sourced.
They are running out of low income people to staff the factories. The average wage is too high now that it's cheaper to outsource the actual manufacturing to poorer countries like Cambodia and Vietnam with factories under Chinese control.
> Are robot-grade servos getting so much cheaper these days?
I was in the market for some servos lately, and e.g. Feetech sells what are basically clones of the popular Korean Dynamixel robotics servos for a lot cheaper.