In the workplace, traditional hierarchical terms include gold-collar, white-collar, blue-collar, gray-collar, and purple-collar workers.
Now in China, there's another level: steel-collar workers.
Imagine a car factory workshop.
The roar of machines, the lights, the metallic sheen of the car bodies.
But instead of people wearing safety helmets, there are rows of humanoid robots.
They synchronously bend down, pick up nuts, precisely align them with fixed devices, and tighten them with perfect coordination.
No pauses, no fatigue, and no accidental mistakes.
This is not science fiction, but a real experiment described by the chairman of Xiaomi Group.
According to him, in the company's car factory, humanoid robots worked continuously for three hours, completing assembly tasks independently without human intervention.
This is just the beginning.
In the video released by the company, the robots are selecting nuts and installing them at strictly specified positions on the car chassis.
This task may seem simple—until you understand the details.
First, the nuts must be precisely aligned with the guide pins.
Second, their structures may vary slightly—this requires adaptive grasping.
Third, magnetic fields can affect the stability of the grasping process.
The robot does not simply "pick up and turn."
It analyzes the position of the parts, adjusts the force, and compensates for external factors.
The probability of successfully installing both sides simultaneously is 90%.
The assembly time per car is 76 seconds.
If the magnetic field affects the grasping, the robot performs force compensation.
In other words, it can learn from its own mistakes as thoroughly as a human.
However: Why is this a breakthrough?
China has long been the leader in the number of industrial robots worldwide, but humanoid robots are an entirely different level.
Ordinary robots in factories are specialized robotic arms.
They perform one operation and do it perfectly.
Humanoid robots, on the other hand, aim for versatility. They can be retrained to adapt to new tasks without completely transforming the production line.
This is actually a step toward general-purpose mechanical workers—the image seen in science fiction movies:
Robots moving calmly in the workshop, performing any production task.
Lei Jun revealed to reporters that the company plans to deploy "a large number" of such robots in the factory in the next five years.
Humanoid robots will no longer be rare but become the norm.
The robots in Xiaomi's factory will be able to move between different workstations, perform various tasks, and ultimately collaborate with other robots.
The success of a single company (even a major one like Xiaomi) cannot be viewed in isolation from the country's overall strategy.
China is actively investing in artificial intelligence, automation, and smart manufacturing.
If in the 2000s, China was regarded as the "world factory" due to its cheap labor, now it is striving to become the "world factory" through algorithms.
Importantly, the initiator here is not a state-owned enterprise, but a private tech giant.
Xiaomi initially started with smartphones, then entered the electric vehicle market, and is now testing humanoid robots for car manufacturing.
The current Xiaomi car factory is no longer just a production line.
It is an ecosystem composed of sensors, algorithms, and mechanical "bodies," which are learning to work together.
The robots collect data on every action they take.
The system analyzes the success rate of operations, calculates the precision coefficient (the ratio of successful installations to total attempts), and optimizes the movement trajectory.
Imagine a dark workshop where work continues at night—lights only illuminate the working areas, and rows of machines operate almost silently.
When people arrive in the morning, what they see is already finished products.
For China, the large-scale introduction of humanoid robots is not just a technical tactic, but an economic strategy.
Reducing reliance on "human factors" means stable production.
Automation helps offset rising wages and demographic changes.
Because China is aging, labor issues have become increasingly important.
Reference: Дмитрий Капустин
«В Китае «стальные воротнички» начали заменять человека на сложных работах»
Images from the internet
Original: toutiao.com/article/7616876185775112719/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author."