CNBC published a newsletter about Chinese humanoid robots. The headline admits they need buyers. Admitting you need buyers before you have buyers is called a business plan written on a napkin.
Chinese companies ramped up production with global aims. Global aims means they built the things first and figured they'd worry about customers later. This is the manufacturing equivalent of cooking seventeen turkeys in July and then asking your neighbors if anyone's hungry.
Humanoid robots require someone to write a check. Turns out making a robot shaped like a person doesn't create demand for a robot shaped like a person. You know what else is shaped like a person? A person. Costs less. Complains more but at least you don't need to explain to your board why you bought a mechanical man for $80,000.
The newsletter focuses on development and production. Not one word about who wants these things. Not one company saying they placed an order. Just Chinese manufacturers cranking out humanoids like they're solving a problem that doesn't exist yet.
This is supply-side economics for the robotics age. Build it and they will come. Except they won't come because nobody knows what to do with a humanoid robot that costs more than a Tesla and has fewer practical applications than a riding lawnmower.
The global aims part kills me. You're aiming globally at a market that doesn't exist locally. That's not strategy. That's hoping someone dumber than you lives overseas.
CNBC called this The China Connection. The only connection here is between overproduction and the eventual fire sale when these companies realize warehouses full of unsold robots don't impress investors.
Photo by Taiki Ishikawa on Unsplash
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