Chinese technology consultant Kenneth Ren is training the workers of the future.
The only thing is that they are not human.
“We’re basically teaching robots to think for themselves,” Ren, an overseas solutions specialist at RealMan Intelligent Technology, told CNBC recently at the Beijing-based Humanoid Robot Data Training Center.
Ren helps run what Chinese state media describes as a “humanoid robot school” as China seeks to develop robots from entertainment to employment.
Humanoid robots are part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader industrial strategy. Just as the Chinese government has targeted electric vehicles and artificial intelligence as key technologies for the future, policymakers have identified humanoid robots as an area of focus for 2030 to ensure China dominates global markets and supply chains.
“China’s next generation industrial policy marks a shift from targeted sectoral interventions to what can be described as a ‘universal industrial policy,'” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and research firm Rhodium Group said in a May 11 research report.
The center, supported in part by a center in Beijing and a network of similar centers across China, is training robots to work in a variety of scenarios.
A worker trains a humanoid industrial robot at the Humanoid Robot Data Training Center in Shougang Park in Beijing, China, on March 27, 2025.
VCG | China News Service | Getty Images
Fudi Luo is one of about 100 instructors.
Luo, a former art teacher, teaches cyborg students how to sort items on a factory line. She and her fellow instructors use cameras, controllers, and motion capture to guide AI-powered students through tasks and repeat actions multiple times.
“At first, the robot is unconscious, so I have to control it manually. But once my movements generate data, the robot learns and can perform tasks autonomously,” she said.
Robots can be taught skills such as housework, massage, organizing store shelves, and repairing metal. A typical day is eight hours of repetitive motion, Luo said.
“Robots don’t know what fatigue is, but I am!” she jokes.
On the same campus where the Chinese capital is promoting robotics, startup Beijing Inspire Robot Technology uses motion tracking and sensors to train robotic hands.
A humanoid robot learns how to organize items on a shelf at the Humanoid Robot Data Training Center in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, January 12, 2026.
Zhang Jinggang | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Winston Zou, secretary of the company’s board of directors, told CNBC that the hands undergo an average of 10,000 training sessions to learn new skills.
“Our current robotic hand can pick up eggs and even smaller objects, as well as pick up strings,” Zou said.
tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk told investors at the US company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in January that its Optimus humanoid robot was better than China’s because of its hand design, which he called “the hardest thing ever” for a robot to master. However, he acknowledged China’s active promotion in this area.
“So far, the biggest competitor for humanoid robots is going to be China. China is incredibly good at scaling up manufacturing,” he said.
In China, training takes place not only in schools but also in the workplace.
AI-powered robots are being tested to act as restaurant chefs, bartenders, waiters, traffic cops, and warehouse owners.
For now, most robots rely on human assistance, but their supporters say it’s only a matter of time before droids do the work themselves.
“Our goal is to take on jobs that are dangerous for humans or repetitive tasks that people don’t want to do or are afraid of doing,” Ren said at the center. “We have no intention of replacing humans in any field.”
