Top Chinese universities offer courses in ‘embodied intelligence’ to aid robotics industry
Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Zhejiang University are among seven schools that plan to offer ‘embodied intelligence’ as a new major
China is building a talent pipeline for the booming robotics industry, with the country’s top universities launching undergraduate courses in embodied intelligence to support Beijing’s ambitions to overtake the US.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Zhejiang University were among a batch of seven prestigious universities that had recently applied to add “embodied intelligence” as a new course, China’s education ministry said in November.
The new programme was driven by the demands of a national strategy to “make exceptional arrangements for urgently needed disciplines” after Beijing this year identified embodied intelligence as one of the key focus areas of the future, according to the education ministry.
The existing undergraduate and graduate programmes in fields like artificial intelligence and engineering lack the systematic and interdisciplinary integration to prepare students for solving real-world problems in the embodied intelligence industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University said in its application document. The department is led by Lu Cewu, a renowned robotics expert and a professor at the university.
Chinese universities are looking to provide the much-needed specialised talent for the industry, as they enlist technology giants and humanoid robot firms as prospective employers.