Within the next ten years, there could be a in virtually every American home and workplace. They will hear and see everything. This is our future. But, a key question remains: will these omnipresent robots be American or Chinese-made? Ensuring that the United States wins the robotics race is both a national security and economic imperative. Both the administration and Congress are now working to address this challenge. Properly calibrated, these efforts demand broad bipartisan support and swift execution.
Increasingly, robots represent the place where AI meets the physical world. Large, stationary single-purpose robots will be replaced by general purpose humanoids that can learn and complete virtually any task. The potential benefits to productivity, efficiency, and safety are astounding.
Imagine a humanoid robot that can care for an aging parent, serve as a personal chef, or assist a surgeon during a complex procedure. These machines will enter burning buildings, clean up nuclear waste, work deep-sea pipelines, and staff dangerous and repetitive roles in American that often cost workers their health and their lives. Goldman Sachs projects that the humanoid robot market could reach $38 billion by 2035. The companies and countries that lead in this technology will enjoy a generational economic advantage and the geopolitical leverage that comes with it.
Which brings us to the threat.
This past Lunar New Year, Chinese robots went viral with a choreographed parade of humanoid robots dancing and performing martial arts in perfect unison â a spectacle equal parts impressive and unsettling. It was not an accident. It was a messageâ¦a warning. s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has identified humanoids as a strategic emerging industry and the country has been pouring billions of dollars of state resources into ensuring Chinese supremacy in this emerging technology. The plan is working. Some market reports indicate that 90% of all humanoid robots are built in China.
This is not simply a commercial problem for America. It is a national security crisis in slow motion.
Consider what a networked fleet of Chinese-manufactured robots, embedded in American homes, hospitals, factories, and government facilities, would mean in practice. These machines see, hear, and map their environments. They connect to the cloud. They receive from their manufacturers that could alter their behavior or extract sensitive data on command. We are not naïve to the risks posed by modern technology. But, humanoid robots are a far more intimate and consequential instrument for surveillance and sabotage. A smartphone knows your location. A humanoid robot knows your home, your family, your routines, and your secrets.
Chinas civil-military fusion doctrine and the dual-use potential of humanoids make this even more alarming. The same robot that folds laundry in a suburban home can, with a software update, perform logistics, reconnaissance, or other physical tasks in a military context. An army of commercially deployed Chinese robots is inherently a latent instrument of the Chinese state.
America has faced this kind of strategic technological competition before, and we have won. But, this wasnt luck. We won through deliberate national strategy, coordinated public and private investment, and clear-eyed policy frameworks. We need the same approach here.
provide the cautionary tale. A decade ago, the United States ceded that market to China without an industrial policy response. Today, Chinese manufacturers control the overwhelming majority of the global drone market. American companies, law enforcement agencies, and even elements of the military found themselves dependent on Chinese hardware before policymakers recognized the scope of the problem. We now struggle to unwind a dependency that should never have been allowed to form in the first instance. To its credit, this administration has tried to
