机器人劳动力大军来袭

Photographs by Liu Di The first country to have a million humanoids will be China. Certainly, the workforce will almost be Chinese. HANGZHOU The 4-foot-tall humanoid robot that’s in front of me seems, quite honestly, a bit drunk. It leaps from one leg to the other, waving its arms. After 30 seconds or so it abruptly stops, then strides toward me with an arm outstretched. The little robot is at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, on the banks of the Huangpu river in Shanghai. The convention center is teeming with humanoids—dancing ones, box-toting ones, robot dog-walking ones doing circuits around trade show booths. A few lie slumped in a corner as their batteries recharge. …