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In focus
- Terence Lee on what comes after AI agents
- Singapore’s largest taxi firm escalates tech race with Grab
- Why the US forgot how to build while China forgot how to stop, argues a research fellow
Hello reader,
Over coffee, an investor told me that 2026 will be the year of robots.
The prediction is bold. After all, we’re years away from having affordable robot servants doing chores in every household.
But while humanoid bots remain fancy toys, their wheeled cousins are a different story.
Image credit: Arsal Ysfin
Singapore’s two transportation giants, ComfortDelGro and Grab, are deploying autonomous fleets, my colleague Melissa Goh explains.
Meanwhile, NTUC Fairprice – the country’s largest supermarket chain – is testing robots for logistics.
A common thread among these developments is the involvement of Chinese firms. China is truly a frontier for robotics. It’s pushing the limits of what the tech can do, judging by a demo of a nimble robotic hand.
A friend who lives in Xi’an attested to how robots are everywhere in the city. You can even climb towering mountains by renting exoskeletons that adapt to your gait.
These rapid advances in robotics showcase China as a “country of builders” – a term coined by Dan Wang, a research fellow at Stanford University.
With the global workforce aging and declining, robots could revitalize the economy.
While Elon Musk is spilling seed and making babies to avert what he calls a population “apocalypse”, China is quietly building its way out of it.
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