Robots outgrowing factory roles in China

While it has become common to see robots on factory assembly lines, in China the machines have already begun providing the elderly with care and helping raise children at daycare centres.

At one of China’s largest daycare centres, in Sanhe, Hubei province, three white and round-bodied robots help give classes.

The children, aged around four or five, each approach Keeko the robot, and speak to it, which then arranges what the children told it to musically narrate the story.

At the centre, where the children can also learn kung-fu and calligraphy, the goal is to “combine tradition with modern advancements”, one of the professors, Gao Haiyan.

Keeko also dances with the children, solves mathematical problems and supports artificial intelligence so that it can even understand in the future.

“If everyone said negative things to it, Keeko would think they were correct, which would not be good for the kids, therefore we intervene a lot to make the lessons as positive as possible,” said Chen Xiaodong, official at Xiamen Zhitong, the firm that made Keeko.

Keeko’s role in helping educate children contrasts to that of a robot known as A-Tai, which is 1200km away in the eastern city of Hangzhou.

A-Tai is in charge of taking care of the elderly at an age care home with more than 1300 old people.

It is slightly taller than Keeko, is equipped with two blue antennas and is capable of singing traditional Chinese opera, known to be popular among elderly Chinese people, can also make calls to residents’ relatives, and remind the residents to take their medicine.

Its designer, Shen Jianchun, believes that someday his robots will replace the nurses at such institutions.

Although China entered the realm of robot manufacturing later than other countries, it has quickly become the world leader, mainly through the Made in China 2025 campaign, which hopes to spur China to become the leader in all areas of technology production and development.

In 2016, China installed 90,000 new robots – a third of all robots in the world – in factories, a 30 per cent increase from 2015.