Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — China’s Xinhua News Agency unveiled two humanoid robot news presenters on 5 November, developed jointly with UBTECH.
The presentation took place at the Artificial Intelligence and China’s Modernisation Forum in Beijing. Xinhua described them as the world’s first bionic robots of their kind.
The robots, named Xinyu and Xinyan, are life-sized and designed for use in news programmes. During the forum, one of them demonstrated its capabilities by delivering an introductory news bulletin on stage.
Chinese film director Zhang Yimou served as the chief designer of the robots’ appearance. Their design took into account the appearance and behaviour expected of television presenters, as well as the aim of achieving a natural human likeness.
According to Xinhua, the robots are connected to the agency’s Xinhua Yudian information AI agent, which uses a verified database of the agency’s news and public affairs materials.
The company says this system enables the robots to access up-to-date information from authoritative sources and maintain control over the content of their reports.
UBTECH was responsible for developing the bionic skin, hardware platform, operating system and artificial intelligence model, as well as manufacturing the robots.
UBTECH Chairman Zhou Jian said the technological system integrates information processing, facial expressions and motion control. He added that using verified materials should reduce the risk of errors associated with generative artificial intelligence.
Xinhua stressed that the robots would not replace journalists or editors. Qian Tong, director of the agency’s New Media Centre, described them as a new element of editorial work.
The robots will be tasked with presenting information, delivering content in multiple languages and interacting with audiences. News preparation and editorial oversight will remain the responsibility of the agency’s staff.
The robots may also be used in research facilities, urban visitor centres, overseas cultural events and coverage of deep-space exploration research. These have so far been identified as potential applications.
The forum also hosted the signing ceremony for an agreement to establish the Beijing base of Xinhua’s Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance.
In addition, a research project was launched to examine mobile news filming technologies and standards for ensuring the reliability of visual materials.
The forum is being held as part of the seventh World Media Summit, organised by Xinhua in cooperation with the Beijing municipal government.
The event will run until 9 November and brings together around 500 representatives from nearly 330 media organisations, think tanks, government agencies and international organisations across 112 countries and regions.
