Global firms race to give humanoid robots true intelligence and memory

The competition to create truly intelligent robots is intensifying, with firms across the United States and China developing general-purpose brains for humanoids that could operate in homes, factories and hospitals. 1X Technologies aims to ship its plush-covered NEO robot later this year, and Skild AI’s Deepak Pathak stresses that the missing piece is cognition, not hardware. Chinese company Unitree demonstrates rapid movement but still relies on a human controller, and its shares jumped after a market debut, highlighting strong investor appetite.

Companies like Agility Robotics and Pi are using industrial sites and rented Airbnbs to collect massive video datasets for training robots to perform complex tasks, while NVIDIA provides the essential AI processors and simulation tools. Researchers cite Moravec’s paradox and the need for extensive, task-specific data as major obstacles, alongside concerns about safety, liability and privacy. The technology is viewed as a potential solution to labor shortages in advanced economies, and both sides depend on each other's hardware and expertise.