This is the end of human labor on production lines. This corporation will replace them with humanoids.

"Chinese giant Xiaomi announces a revolution in manufacturing. Humanoid robots are to replace people in factories within five years, and artificial intelligence will become the core of a new generation of industry. Robots will also enter homes.

 

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun presented one of the boldest predictions to date regarding the future of manufacturing, announcing in an interview with "Beijing Daily" that the next five years will bring a huge change driven by artificial intelligence. This change will not be gradual, but very rapid, and humanoid robots, that is, those that look and work like humans, will soon become a key element of factory operations. His statements are in line with China's broader strategy, which is pushing industry towards smarter and more advanced production systems.

 

Lei emphasized that Xiaomi's electric car factory is a clear example of the transformation taking place. Large cast body parts usually require slow, manual inspection, which often leads to errors. The company replaced this stage with an X-ray system combined with an AI vision model. The entire inspection now takes two seconds – the process is ten times faster than human work and more than five times more accurate. This shows how intelligent systems increase factory efficiency.

 

Looking ahead, Lei said that Xiaomi will introduce humanoid robots into its factories within five years. These robots will take over tasks currently performed by employees, especially those that are repetitive or require high precision.

 

Humanoid robots will enter homes.

And that's just the first step. According to the Xiaomi CEO, home humanoid robots will become an even bigger market." Such devices will need to operate much more efficiently and handle more complex, everyday tasks than factory robots.

The company already has experience in robotics.

 

The CyberOne humanoid robot was unveiled in 2022.

 

 Since then, Xiaomi has developed teams conducting research on AI, working on robotics and intelligent systems for electric cars. The company considers robots a key element of its future product strategy.

Lei explained that intelligent manufacturing brings practical benefits at every stage of the manufacturing chain. AI-based quality control improves accuracy and reduces human error. It also shortens production delays and helps stabilize processes in factories.

The opening of a future market worth trillions of dollars is accompanied by an investment frenzy, and research.

Such improvements allow employees to move into more advanced roles – related to planning, design, and engineering development. As humanoid robots take over physical tasks, people will increasingly perform jobs requiring creativity and decision-making.

AI is rapidly changing manufacturing. Who is betting on humanoids?

This fits into China's national strategy for modernizing manufacturing using AI and robotics. Beijing wants to be number one in the world in these fields. Lei urged Chinese companies to avoid older industrial models based on cheap labor. Instead, he encouraged investment in next-generation technologies – automation and digital tools – that will strengthen industrial competitiveness.

 

Xiaomi is investing heavily in AI development, robotic testing, and factory modernization. Lei emphasized that the next five years will be crucial—humanoid robots, AI-based control systems, and connected factory networks will become central elements of the company's production.

 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also betting on humanoid robots, developing the Optimus model. He predicts that by 2040 there will be over 10 billion such machines worldwide.

 

Not everyone shares these visions. Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot and former MIT professor, warns that billions of dollars invested in humanoid robots will never pay off. In his opinion, the future belongs to completely different machines. Brooks predicts that in 15 years, successful "humanoid" robots will have wheels, multiple arms, specialized sensors, and will abandon the human form. Meanwhile, he is deeply convinced that today's billion-dollar investments are financing costly experiments that will never enter mass production. This does not change the fact that the number of robots will multiply in the near future, they will play an increasingly important role, which will affect "human" jobs.”