Recently, the first batch of national humanoid robot embodied intelligence standards were released in Pudong. The National and Local Co-construction Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center, together with head enterprises and institutions in the industry, released two standards, “Guidelines for Classifying and Grading Applications of Humanoid Robots” and “Guidelines for Grading the Levels of Embodied Intelligence”. Professor RUAN Qingsong of the Department of Economics and Finance and XING Boyang, Director of the R&D System of the National and Local Co-construction Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center, appeared on Oriental Finance 632 Watch to discuss how Pudong can further strengthen the standardization of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence. Below is the video interview and excerpts from the program.

Humanoid robots and embodied intelligence represent the cutting edge of the robotics industry and are one of the hottest directions in artificial intelligence today. To promote the further development of the industry, the establishment of standards is essential. A few days ago, Pudong New Area released the humanoid robot classification and grading application guide, and the body intelligence level grading guide, two standards, respectively, applicable to the relevant areas of research and development, production assessment and application promotion. The scale of Pudong’s humanoid robot industry has exceeded 20 billion yuan. 2023, China’s domestic release of 12 humanoid robots, 4 from Pudong. Intelligent software, Pudong has a number of domestic high-performance computing chip leaders, gathered more than 30 large model enterprises, for the humanoid robot brain provides a powerful boost; hardware core components, Pudong in the key actuators, sensors and dexterous hand and other high-end links in the value chain of the R & D and manufacturing capacity is growing, gathered a number of high-precision sensor R & D and manufacturing enterprises.

Q1: What are the areas covered by the two standards released this time?

XING Boyang: The two standards we released this time mainly cover the technical standards for humanoid robots and the standards for the development stage of embodied intelligence. The technical system standard is divided into four levels of technical system standards from L1 to L4, which define the degree of intelligence, work ability, operation ability, movement ability of humanoid robots at different levels, as well as the diversified needs of its application in scenarios. The embodied intelligence is divided into five levels from G1 to G5, which define the intelligence level, model capability and model-focused data type of the embodied intelligence technology, respectively. In this way, humanoid robots and embodied intelligence technologies are defined in detail, and what kind of robots can be promoted and scaled as humanoid robot platforms in future scenarios is also defined.

Q2: Now that there is a grading system, corresponding standards have been formulated, and relevant guidelines have been issued, what kind of promotion effect do you think this will play on the development of the whole industry?

RUAN Qingsong: First, in terms of technological innovation, with standards can motivate enterprises and research institutions in a clear technical framework for technological innovation, promote technological progress; Second, in terms of international cooperation and exchange, we have a unified discourse, which is conducive to China to seize the right to speak in international cooperation on standards; Third, in terms of policy support, if there is no standard, the formulation of policy is no Third, in terms of policy support, if there is no standard, there is no basis for policy formulation, with standards, the development of relevant policies to be more targeted; Finally, the grading system regulates the future development of enterprises can be based on their own talents, resources and strengths, matching the corresponding direction of development, to avoid disorderly competition and waste of resources, as well as inefficient investment.

In addition, it should be noted that the introduction of standards does not mean that we can “lie flat”. In this process, we must also be based on the feedback of enterprises, the development of the industry, technological advances, the standard for dynamic adjustment and updating, and timely discovery of the standard needs to be further improved.

Q3: In the development of these group standards, which links or levels are more complicated in the promotion process?

XING Boyang: On the whole, there are a few key points in the preparation of the standard: first, how to define the humanoid robot platform, what is a humanoid robot, what is a pan-humanoid robot? The second is that humanoid robots need to have the ability to act and cognize in terms of upper and lower limbs and large models.

In addition, the definition of humanoid robot intelligence exactly how to divide G1 to G5 is more complicated. The mechanical parts of the humanoid robot ontology – hand, brain, eye and foot – and diverse behavior generation need to be driven by end-to-end generalized macromodels. In addition, we need to evolve from fixed scenarios and fixed stations to open scenarios and dynamic environments. All of these technological aspects will pose high technological demands and technical tests for future humanoid robotics and embodied intelligence technologies.

Q4: With such a standard, people may have more confidence and expectations for the future. People are not only calling for a standard, but also particularly looking forward to the introduction of new technologies. What do you think is the relationship between the introduction of technology and the development of our standards?

RUAN Qingsong: The development of standards is to set the framework for the development of the industry, but this framework is not intended to make the industry, the industry is stuck in its ways. The process of introducing new technologies is under this framework to give it a catalyst for more innovation and development, the two can never be opposed, but rather complement each other. Humanoid robots and embodied intelligence require a large amount of data, requiring real-time transmission, otherwise humanoid robots can not respond to the surrounding environment in a timely manner. In the more complex application scenarios in the future, humanoid robots will have a more urgent need for timely data transmission.

Q5: There are a lot of amazing performances of embodied intelligent humanoid robots, with great improvement in movement and behavior, but this needs to be backed up by efficient data processing capabilities. Many people think that data is the important blood of humanoid robots, what do you think about this statement?

XING Boyang: I agree with Prof. RUAN’s point of view that the establishment of standards is to pull the development of technology, and to reach the stage of universal humanoid robots, it is actually necessary to realize the collection and application of data on a large scale. Data is the most critical part of this process. By setting up a standard, the source and purpose of the data should be clarified, i.e., what kind of data do we need and what kind of capability do we need the humanoid robot to present. Finally, it is necessary to figure out the volume of data needed and the objects it collects.

Through the development of standards, on the one hand, the format of data collected by everyone can be unified in the rules; on the other hand, it allows everyone to gather strength. When training a large model, the volume of data is calculated in terabytes. If a unified standard is not set up before collecting data, it will result in a great waste of manpower, resources and arithmetic power.

Q6: Can it be understood that the key point at the core of the current further development of humanoid robotic embodied intelligence lies in how to improve its data processing capabilities? Or are there other constraints to its further development?

XING Boyang: The purpose of collecting data and doing training with data is to have a more general model, a model with more generalization ability, which is also equivalent to the soul of the humanoid robot. In addition, there are a lot of specialized techniques in the data that need to be handled, such as data management, data cleaning, and so on. In addition, the data may eventually become a generalized asset, and can even be traded, from which a new business model will also be born, which may also be the source of the rapid development of humanoid robots in the future. Finally, the cost reduction and efficiency aspects. How can the cost of humanoid robots come down as soon as possible is also a key breakthrough item in the future industry and technology.

Q7: Pudong has the highest density of humanoid robots in Shanghai, what do you think are the advantages of developing humanoid robots and embodied intelligence in Pudong? In what ways can it help the development of the whole industry?

RUAN Qingsong: First, Pudong has become the core area of Shanghai and even China’s humanoid robot industry cluster, we have statistics, in the humanoid robot-related industries, such as the overall machine, intelligent software, hardware core, etc., Pudong’s industrial agglomeration effect is relatively outstanding. Secondly, the advantages of technology and innovation capacity concentration, such as talent concentration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tongji University, Zhejiang University, China University of Science and Technology and other colleges and universities have research teams distributed in Pudong. Both are competing with each other, but also can be cut. Third, the policy and capital agglomeration advantage. The Pudong area has important industries such as finance, biomedicine, and large airplanes, which all have high development potential for the application of embodied intelligence and humanoid robots.

Q8: What would you expect from the development of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence in such a favorable ecosystem in Pudong? Can you tell us what new technologies and products will be unveiled in the future?

XING Boyang: We expect more native, high-quality humanoid robotics companies to grow out of Pudong in the future. In terms of the humanoid robot platform body, we intend to introduce new technologies such as five-fingered hands, articulated motors, integrated intelligent controllers, and other new products with public design programs. In addition, in terms of intelligent technology, we will focus on the generation of diverse behaviors highlighted in the standard, including large models and end-to-end technology routes, to empower humanoid robot products to enhance its comprehensive ability to complete data collection tasks in more advanced scenarios and training grounds in the future.

Q9: How should Shanghai or Pudong find its own advantages to play a demonstration and leading role in humanoid robots with body intelligence?

RUAN Qingsong: In modern economic and industrial development, the cluster effect is very important, which can provide support in terms of scale, talent and technology. Since Pudong has a first-mover advantage, the subsequent stage of the relevant policies and financial support must be followed and strengthened, continue to plough the AI application scene to build a characteristic application ecosystem, relying on Shanghai’s economic and industrial advantages, Pudong can take the lead in exploring the application of artificial intelligence in the smart city.