American robotics firms are advocating a national robotics strategy, including creating a federal agency aimed at advancing the sector at a time when China is making intelligent robots a national priority.
On Wednesday, representatives of businesses including Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Agility Robotics met with Capitol Hill legislators to display goods and advocate for the United States to adopt policies that would support American businesses in a worldwide competition to create the next generation of robots.
Lawmaker Jeff Cardenas, co-founder and CEO of humanoid firm Apptronik of Austin, Texas, reminded them that American manufacturer General Motors sent the first industrial robot to a New Jersey assembly factory in 1961. But the U.S. soon gave up its early edge to Japan, which now is a powerhouse of industrial robots, along with Europe.
Cardenas stated in an interview following the closed-door discussion that artificial intelligence will fuel the next robotics race and that it will be “anybody’s to win.” The United States, in my opinion, has a good possibility of prevailing. We’re ahead in artificial intelligence and I believe we’re creating some of the greatest robots worldwide. We have to have a national plan if we are to keep building and remain in front.
A national plan, according to the Association for Advancing Automation, would enable U.S. businesses to increase manufacturing and push robot acceptance as the “physical manifestation” of artificial intelligence. The organization emphasized that numerous other nations including China already had plans in place.
Lacking such direction, “the U.S. will not only lose the robotics race but also the AI race,” the group stated in a release.
Along with federally-funded training programs and financing for academic research and business innovation, the committee also proposed tax incentives to assist propel adoption. The group contended that a new government robotics agency is required not just because of “the rising global competition in the space” but also because of the technology’s “growing sophistication.”
Illinois Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi stated he thinks the U.S. is ahead in the game but that the Chinese businesses are “very good” and that China is “devoting a lot of resources very quickly.”
Krishnamoorthi remarked, “We therefore have to keep our culture of entrepreneurship and our innovation going.”
Manufacting capacity, according to Johnathan Chen, manager of automaker Tesla’s Optimus Engineering working on a humanoid robot CEO Elon Musk aspires to one day deploy to Mars, will be national competition. You build the robots; the issue is who will scale them. Chen remarked.
With over 1.8 million robots running in 2023, China is the largest market in the world for factory and other industrial environment working robots, according to the Germany-based International Federation of Robotics.
Though the proportion of Chinese manufacturers in its home market has increased to over half, robotics makers in Japan and Europe continue to lead the worldwide market for behemoth industry robots, according to IFR.
Because they are not yet widely commercialized, tracking the development of new robot technologies—such as humanoids or animal-like legged robots—can be more difficult. Boston Dynamics, a Massachusetts-based robotics pioneer currently owned by South Korean manufacturer Hyundai, depended on U.S. military research money for its first two decades of work on nimble robots able to crawl and walk.
China is now trying to combine robotics with other developing technologies including artificial intelligence since the country is declaring humanoid robots as a frontier technology and has authorized a state-backed venture capital fund of $138 billion to concentrate on robotics, AI and other cutting-edge innovations.
At the yearly Chinese New Year celebration, the state broadcaster presented dancing robots earlier this year. Waving arms and twirling handkerchiefs, the army of humanoid robots from Chinese robotics company Unitree, a Boston Dynamics competitor, raised national pride that China has made significant progress in the creation of humanoid robots to challenge those in the United States.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang stated in his annual work report that the nation will give first priority combining digital technologies with the production and commercial strengths of the nation, including building smart robots along with linked electric cars.
Humanoid robots that mix artificial intelligence with a human-like physique have drawn popular interest in both the United States and China. But they also arouse doubt among certain followers of the robotics sector.
Humanoid robots, according to Bill Ray, a UK-based market research organization Gartner analyst, are foolish and thus not liked. Though not particularly useful, “They look great,” said one.
Ray is instead searching for other uses of what he calls “polyfunctional robots” such wheeled devices that can carry large parcels throughout airports but don’t resemble people at all. He believes that government assistance won’t significantly affect which nation leads.
Ray remarked, “Given the current political environment, we don’t expect to see fleets of American robots operating in Chinese factories or fleets of Chinese robots operating in American factories.” I believe that is obvious.
A national plan in the U.S., Cardenas said, may help in encouraging robot adoption by means of a national policy and also support the training of a new generation of robotics engineers and scientists. Cardenas’s firm and its Apollo robot have support from technology behemoths Nvidia and Google.
Cardenas remarked, “Humanoids are going to play a big role both practically and in capturing the imagination of the public.” Humanoids, Cardenas said, will significantly influence both practically and in public imagination.
Originally published March 26, 2025, Published again on March 27, 2025, to rectify the name of the Tesla employee is Johnathan Chen, not Jonathan Chen, and the name of the organization is the Association for Advancing Automation, not the Association for Advanced Automation.