A robotics CEO in China is launching the world’s first “Humanoid pregnancy robot” that will feature an artificial womb and sell for $14,000. The tech executive claims his company will have a prototype ready for sale as early as next year!
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It’s reported that China has been heavily investing in robotics. Subsequently, the country is now a leader run industrial roots per capita and is getting ready to host the first-ever “World Humanoid Robot Games” in Beijing.
Additionally, China has reportedly been facing an alarming birth rate decline with women waiting to have children, or not at all, and some experiencing infertility with their partners. Per a report published by the medical journal The Lancet, infertility has risen to 18% in 2020 from 12% in 2007. 1 out of every 5.6 couples of childbearing age have trouble conceiving.
With surrogacy being illegal in China and the changing social attitudes towards bearing children, the nation faces economic concerns, a shrinking workforce, and super-aged society; thus resulting in a push for robots.
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Tech & Robotics CEO In China Explains Idea Behind ‘Humanoid Pregnancy Robot’
Per Chosun Biz, last week, Dr. Zhang Qifeng, the founder of Guangzhou-based Kaiwa Technology, spoke about his development with tech outlet Kuai Ke Zhi. Qifeng, a PhD at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said:
“Some people don’t want to get married but still want a ‘wife.’ Some don’t want to be pregnant but still want a child. So one function of our ‘robot wife’ is that it can carry a pregnancy. We want to integrate a gestation chamber into a humanoid robot and build an artificial womb so it can carry a full-term pregnancy ‘in the normal way.’”
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The tech CEO in China says the robot will have a synthetic uterus that’s already at a “mature” stage. The fake womb would incubate the baby for about 10 months and deliver nutrients through a tube connected to the umbilical cord.
Reportedly, the concept behind the robo-uterus references the temperature-controlled “biobag” study conducted in 2017. At the time, researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia simulated amniotic fluid with a warm saline solution and kept premature lambs alive for weeks.
The “humanoid pregnancy robot” costs 100,000 Chinese yuan, which is about half of Beijing, China’s average annual wage. In America, it will cost roughly 14,000 U.S. dollars — a price significantly less than a human surrogate, which can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000.
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