Videos of soldier dogs training with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) quickly go viral on social media. These war weapons carry assault rifles and can perform precision attacks, advanced reconnaissance work on the ground, or carry supplies. They can carry drones or be transported by unmanned aerial vehicles to the combat zone. They weigh around 70 kilograms, and their batteries have a autonomy of over three hours.
Other videos that recently gained a lot of success on social media were those featuring a new all-terrain quadruped robot capable of performing somersaults, lateral flips, steep descents, jumping from a roof, and even carrying an adult over rough terrain.
It is called B2-W and even received a comment of admiration from the billionaire Elon Musk: "Coming soon, an episode of the robot dog from Black Mirror in real life." B2-W, designed for logistics and transportation in complex terrains, has already been tested working as a carrier at 1,000 meters altitude in Taishan, a mountain in eastern China.
The robotic dog developed to serve as a guide for blind or visually impaired people has shorter robotic legs than the B2-W. The size of an English bulldog and equipped with artificial intelligence and voice recognition, it moves through cameras and sensors, allowing it to recognize its entire environment, such as traffic lights or traffic. When Chinese media first reported on the robot, they pointed out the importance of this invention because in the Asian country, there are barely 400 guide dogs for around 20 million blind people.
Almost all of these metallic dogs have been developed by the Chinese robotics giant, Unitree Robotics, and can be found this week at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai. In one of the company's stands, along with a four-legged robot, several humanoids are exhibited, including those that participated in a half marathon in Beijing in April.
The scene is like being at a Star Wars fair with R2-D2 and C-3PO. While the small robot performs its acrobatics, another humanoid greets the audience. This is Unitree G1, 1.27 meters tall and 35 kilograms, which became famous in Spain for greeting King Felipe VI during the last MWC in Barcelona.
The investment firm Morgan Stanley published a note this week indicating that the Chinese robotics market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 23% to reach $108 billion by 2028. A significant increase considering the $47 billion of this industry in 2024. "China is not only the largest market but also possibly the world's innovation center, driving the development of next-generation robotics," the report stated.
This sector is a key piece of the ambitious "Made in China 2025" initiative, sponsored a decade ago by President Xi Jinping, with the aim of positioning Beijing at the forefront of high-tech industries. Now, there are around 750,000 companies related to robotics. The quadruped robots that extinguish fires, patrol the streets, guide blind people, or rescue lost hikers in the mountains are already part of a futuristic reality unattainable for most countries in the world.