The Chinese robot army transforming the UK's retail industry | BBC News

0:00 To robots now and a new norm in warehouses around the world with China emerging as a world leader in logistics robotics. A development that is apparently stirred unease in the Trump administration. It's tightened restrictions on some advanced Chinese robot imports citing national security concerns. China called the move erroneous. Elsewhere, Chinese technology is being widely used as Suranjana Tewari reports. >> Every time you order clothes, groceries, or household essentials online, there's a chance one of these helped out. Inside warehouses across the world, fleets of autonomous robots are changing the way orders are picked, packed, and

0:46 dispatched. Much of that technology is now being developed in China, led by companies like Geek+ the world's largest supplier of autonomous mobile warehouse robots. >> At the early stage, the challenge is to have the customers to recognize and believe those kind of robot technologies can real create values. But right now, what we see in the market is most of the companies in the world, they realize they see the trend of automation and they use smart robotics to transform their logistics. >> Warehouse automation has existed for decades. What's changed is that software can now coordinate hundreds of autonomous robots at the same time.

1:32 >> In traditional warehouses, workers can end up walking very long distances to pick up orders. But with this technology, the goods come to them. There are no fixed tracks, only QR codes on the floor, and companies can stack their goods even higher with this technology than normal. Major UK retailers, including Next, Tesco, and Asda, are investing in the technology as they try to meet online demand efficiently. But as robots become more capable, it raises questions about the future of work. Motion Tech, which deploys Geek+ robots in UK warehouses, says they're helping solve one of the logistics industry's biggest problems.

2:20 >> I wouldn't say that it replaces jobs because I would say that businesses need this technology in order to develop and move forward. We seem to have a very, you know, a big shortage of labor in the UK at the moment. >> Even these robots still have limits. They can't yet carry out many of the dexterous tasks humans perform every day. Geek+ is developing AI-powered humanoid robots to automate some of those jobs. China's AGI bot is going even further by deploying humanoids into factories to inspect products and sort defects. Human-like robots may be the industry's long-term goal, but they're still some way from becoming a common sight on

3:07 factory and warehouse floors. Suranjana Tewari, BBC News, Hefei, China.