Over the past decade, robots have increasingly played a significant role in Southeast Asia, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Singapore, which has had a national robotics programme promoting the development of robots and “embodied artificial intelligence (AI)”, is the second-ranked country worldwide for robot density relative to workforce. Malaysia has a National Robotics Roadmap 2021–2030, which aims to “extract the value of robotics as the key enabling technology and catalyst for the nation’s productivity [and] competitiveness”.
China is the best positioned economy to first achieve mass implementation of ‘embodied AI’ and lead AI value creation globally. Southeast Asian economies will stand to reap significant opportunities.
