China firm plans world’s first pregnancy humanoid robot using artificial womb

The innovation uses artificial amniotic fluid and nutrient delivery via hose, replicating natural gestation, now to be integrated into humanoid robots.


Artificial wombs have much potential, but this version raises some concerns. The main upside, of course, is that it provides an alternative to humans for whom it is impossible, unsafe, or unappealing to gestate a baby inside their own body. Similarly artificial wombs can help save endangered species by expanding their reproductive potential without risking female lives.

Previous technology has been used to support fetal lambs, and the next logical step would be to support prematurely born human infants so early that conventional care offers little or no chance of survival. It's ethical to try a radical and risky new treatment if that raises the odds of survival; even if it only bought them a few extra days or weeks in the "womb" that would likely improve outcomes.

One obvious drawback of this version is that it's attached to a humanoid robot. Well, bipedal motion is tricky in general and for robotics in particular; that creates a falling hazard -- as anyone who's been pregnant can tell you, adding a heavy bump to the front of a biped makes it less stable and more prone to falling. I doubt they're doing to do the sensible thing and locate the artificial womb directly on the center of balance; they're more likely to stick it on the front as happens in human women, for aesthetic similarity, prioritizing that over stability and protection.

Realistically, a static unit would be much safer, preferably in a location with neonatal and robotics experts available in case something goes wrong. As this is bleeding-edge technology, things will definitely go wrong in many or most cases. It's not rare for even long-evolved humans to have problems in pregnancy.

Now consider that it's China doing this. China has ... alternative ethics. Its previous choice to institute a one-child policy likely contributes to wanting an artificial womb, since one outcome of that choice is a serious shortage of Chinese women. And the ones they have left aren't as keen on marriage, pregnancy, and childraising as their ancestors were.

How did they get this far, this fast, with such a technology? They could simply be exaggerating; companies do that often. But if they're telling the truth, then the next thing I wonder is how many Uighur and political prisoners they raped, butchered, or murdered to make that much progress. It would certainly be a lot easier to gain ground in that field if you had a generous supply of helpless victims to test your technology on. Since we already know China practices organlegging, it's logical to suspect similar human rights violations in producing this claimed technology.


According to Qifeng, it is not merely an incubator but a life-sized humanoid equipped with an artificial womb in its abdomen, capable of replicating the entire process from conception to delivery.

I'm dubious of this. Artificial conception is very tricky and requires a lot of big, heavy, expensive equipment to combine extracted eggs and preserved or fresh sperm. At least until you get to the stage where any two random living cells can be used for their DNA alone to mix and create a zygote, and I don't think we're anywhere near that yet.

Another untested aspect, beyond the limitations of previously demonstrated or perhaps recently developed technology, is the metaphysical part. Human young, even after birth, require close parental contact to survive and thrive. Without that, they often die, and the survivors grow up with serious mental and/or physical problems. Consider it a kind of relational malnutrition that sabotages survival and health. We have some gruesome statistics on this from historic orphanages, modern ones in places like Romania, and neglected children.

What we don't know, yet, is whether a human baby can successfully grow outside of a human body without encountering similar effects. Normally a baby in the womb hears a human heartbeat and breathing, voices, etc. and experiences changing biochemistry through parental diet, hormones, etc. So gestating a baby from scratch in an artificial womb will be an experiment, and the failures can get ugly. One predictable outcome is a high rate of miscarriage or stillbirth. About a third of pregnancies naturally miscarry as the fetus proves nonviable; this will likely be higher in an artificial setting. But what if the infant survives to birth, yet is negatively impacted by the artificial gestation, such as not responding as expected to human contact? How many parents will want to keep a mentally disabled infant? It's China, the country that murdered a lot of babies for being born female or without proper paperwork. I predict a lot of parents would abandon "defective" robot-born children. That could cause another international scandal, but China doesn't care. This is a country that can't even figure out how to make safe pet food.


Dr. Zhang claimed the technology is already mature in laboratory setting

If true, that means they've already tested it by gestating human infants to birth in a lab. One wonders where those came from and where they went.


Led researchers at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the team used gene editing to create male-sterile flowers, enabling the robot to produce hybrid seeds efficiently.

Creating male-sterile crops is a crime against humanity. Reason being, it spreads, and that threatens the food supply. Here is a discussion of why that is a problem. So there's another example of China being devoid of both ethics and foresight.


GEAIR has already been applied to develop a male-sterile soybean system, potentially boosting China’s hybrid breeding capacity and crop yields.

Soybeans are among the world's leading staple crops and a key source of vegetable protein for people without soy allergies. It's in most vegetarian and many other foods. Losing it would be catastrophic and cause famines. That's not a good place to prioritize speed, convenience, and profits over human need and agricultural security.


Overall, I suspect that the hype of the artificial womb robots will greatly exceed performance.