The Chinese robot that makes a salami sandwich, then puts on a scarf: the video

After the "space race" and the "artificial intelligence race", the race for humanoid robots has arrived

Leading the way is Shanghai startup AgiBot, where dozens of humanoid robots learn to fold a T-shirt, make a sandwich, and open doors repeatedly for 17 hours a day. In its warehouse, the goal is to generate massive amounts of data that will train the robots to navigate the human world.

“Imagine that one day in our robot factory, our robots assemble themselves,” said Yao Maoqing, a partner at AgiBot.

The importance of humanoid development was underscored by Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to AgiBot's Shanghai factory last month, where he joked that perhaps the machines could play on a soccer team. Chinese officials have allocated $20 billion to the sector in the past year, and Beijing is setting up a trillion yuan ($137 billion) fund to support startups in areas such as artificial intelligence and robotics, official announcements show.