‘Humanoid robots will be colleagues, not competitors’

On their own track: Tiangong Ultra running during an organised media tour of Beijing Robotics Industrial Park, in Beijing. — Reuters

The nation’s huma­noid robots will not replace human workers and cause mass unemployment, according to a Chinese official who oversees a tech hub in Beijing, amid a rapid expansion of the sector and state funding for it.

Liang Liang, a deputy director at the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, which hosts one of China’s largest tech hubs, said in an interview on Friday with foreign media that he does not believe that humanoid robots will replace their human creators, but will boost producti­vity and operate in hazardous environments.