Optimus competitor: Jack Ma's project showed a humanoid robot controlled by a neural network

Ant Group, a company backed by Alibaba creator Jack Ma, has unveiled its first humanoid robot. With the help of built-in AI, it is able to work as a tour guide, sort medicines, conduct medical consultations and help in the kitchen. Thus, the startup has entered the race of Chinese technology companies seeking to compete with the U.S. in the commercialization of advanced technologies, writes Bloomberg. Analysts estimate the market for humanoid robots at $5 trillion by 2050.

Shanghai-based Ant Lingbo Technology, also known as Robbyant, showed a model of the R1 humanoid robot at the Inclusion 2025 conference in Shanghai on Sept. 11. The robot is capable of acting as a tour guide, sorting drugs in pharmacies, conducting medical consultations and performing basic tasks in the kitchen, Bloomberg writes. The Ant startup is backed by the creator of China's e-commerce leader Alibaba Group, Jack Ma.

Unlike other developers that focus on the hardware part of robots, Ant is betting on the development of "brains" for them, the agency notes. According to Robbyant CEO Zhu Xing, the startup sees humanoid robots as a strategic channel for popularizing AI assistants and chatbots, betting that large language models will radically transform human-machine interaction in the near future.

If humanoid robots enter homes, they won't just help with household chores, but will act as super-intelligent assistants connected to cloud-based AI that can handle a much wider range of tasks," Zhu said. - This is a logical direction for Ant, because our goal is to make people's lives easier: in payments, finance and digital government services.

According to Bloomberg's sources, the R1 is predominantly assembled from components from Chinese suppliers: the joint modules were provided by Ti5 robot and the chassis by Galaxea AI, in which Ant also invested. In addition, Ant is in supply talks with technology companies Unitree and Orbbec, which produce components and entire robots.

"The assembly process itself can likely be outsourced relatively easily, but the development of a reliable and scalable model is the key element," Andy Mok, a senior researcher at the Beijing-based Center for China Globalization, told the agency. - The most critical factor here will be the AI model, not manufacturing or engineering. China has serious competitors in this area.

Ant is known as the fintech company behind the Alipay payment system. But in recent years, it has been actively investing in artificial intelligence, Bloomberg writes. Ant is developing its own large language model called BaiLing and training it using inexpensive Chinese chips, as DeepSeek previously did.

Ant's large language model allows the R1 robot to plan complex tasks from start to finish. The company claims that its AI allows the robot to not only cook food, but also serve it. R1 is theoretically capable of learning new recipes and using a variety of cooking utensils, from woks to stovetops.

In the long term, Ant plans to create humanoid companions and caregivers to assist in domestic and medical care. Ant has been exploring the use of AI in healthcare for several years and has invested in tech startup Unitree. In June, the company unveiled an AI app called AQ that analyzes medical reports and offers recommendations from doctors. Earlier this year, Ant also acquired Chinese online medical advice platform Haodf.com.

Bloomberg was unable to independently confirm Ant's claims about the abilities of its robot. The startup is still testing the R1 and is not bringing the product to the mass market. Its price has not yet been announced. All claims of robot capabilities are being scrutinized after Tesla's Optimus robot told a user it was controlled by a human.

With its humanoid robot, Ant is entering a highly competitive market where its rival will be not only the U.S. Optimus, but also China's Unitree Robotics, in which it has invested. China, where the density of industrial robots per worker already exceeds that of the U.S. and Japan, is preparing humanoids to perform increasingly complex functions, Bloomberg notes.

According to Morgan Stanley analysts, the number of humanoid robots is likely to reach nearly 1 billion by 2050. At the same time, the market for humanoid robots could exceed $5 trillion by mid-century, including sales through supply chains and repair, service and support networks. The price of a robot in China could drop to $15,000 in 25 years.

"Adoption will be relatively slow until the mid-2030s and then accelerate in the late 2030s and 2040s," according to Adam Jonas, head of global automotive and shared mobility research at Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley notes that at the moment it is Chinese companies, not US companies, that are leading the way in robotics. "At this stage, the U.S. has several leading players in the design and development of humanoid robots, but China may catch up when humanoids reach the next stage of application and mass production using its powerful self-sufficient supply chain," Jonas says.

Now virtually every robot developer in the world needs critical components sourced from China and other Asian countries. There are virtually no alternative supplies of propellers, gearboxes, motors and batteries in the United States, analysts note.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor