Humanoid robots: USA vs China

Are humanoid robots going to decide which countries get rich and which fall behind?

Probably yes.

In this TechFirst, I talk with Dr. Robert Ambrose, former head of one of NASA’s first humanoid robot teams and now chairman of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at Alliant. We dig into the future of humanoids, how fast they are really advancing, and what it means if China wins the humanoid race before the United States and other western nations.

We start with NASA’s early humanoid work, including telepresence robots on the space station that people could literally “step into” with VR in the 1990s. Then we zoom out to what counts as a robot, why bipedal mobility matters so much, how humanoids will move from factories into homes, and why the critical photo of the robot revolution might be taken in Beijing instead of Times Square.

Along the way, Ambrose shares how US policy once helped avoid losing robotics leadership to Japan, why the National Robotics Initiative mattered, what the drone war in Ukraine is doing to autonomy, and how small and medium businesses can survive and thrive in a humanoid and AI agent world.

In this episode:

• NASA’s first generations of humanoid robots and “stepping into” a robot body

• Why humanoids make sense in a world built for human hands, height, and motion

• The design tension between purpose built machines and general purpose humanoids

• How biped mobility went from blooper reels to marathon running in a decade

• Why a humanoid should not cost more than a car, and what happens when it does not

• Humanoids as the next car or PC, and when families will buy their own “Rosie”

• China, the US, and where the defining photo of the robot century gets taken

• How government investment, DARPA challenges, and wars shape robotics

• Alliant’s work with physical robots, soft bots, and AI agents for real businesses

• Why robots are not future overlords and why “they will take all our jobs” is lazy thinking

If you are interested in humanoid robots, AI agents, manufacturing, or the future of work and geopolitics, this one is for you.

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00:00 Intro, will China eat America’s lunch in humanoid robotics

01:18 NASA’s early humanoids, generations of robots and VR telepresence

03:00 “Stepping into the robot” moment and designing for astronaut tools

05:10 Human built environments, half humanoids, and weird lower body experiments

07:00 Safety, cobots, and working around people at NASA and General Motors

12:15 What is a robot, really, and why Ambrose has a very big tent definition

16:00 Single purpose machines vs general purpose robots, Roombas, elevators, and vending machines

18:30 The next “lurch” in robotics, from industrial arms to Mars rovers to drones

22:40 Biped mobility, from blooper reel to marathon runner, and why legs matter

24:10 Cars, Roombas, and why most robots will never get in and out of a car

25:20 Parking between cars, robot garages, and rethinking buildings for mobile vehicles

28:00 Geopolitics 101, China’s manufacturing backbone and humanoids as almost free labor

31:05 Cars and PCs as precedents, when price and reliability unlock mass adoption

34:00 When families buy their own “Rosie” and what value a home humanoid must deliver

37:00 Times Square vs Beijing, who gets the iconic photo of the robot transition

43:00 How the US almost lost robotics to Japan and what the National Robotics Initiative did

48:00 DARPA, Mars rovers, the drone war in Ukraine, and why government investment matters

52:00 Alliant, soft bots, AI agents, and helping small and medium businesses adapt

54:00 Who is building humanoids in the US, China, and beyond right now

56:00 What governments should do next and why robots are not our overlords