Human hands are very complexcomplex/ˈkɒmpleks/L2复杂的，难以理解或处理的having many parts that are difficult to understand or deal with because they require many nerve signals for simple tasks. For thousands of years, no machine has truly copied them. However, Chinese companies now think they are close, and they use manufacturingmanufacturing/ˌmænjuˈfæktʃərɪŋ/L2制造，生产（尤指大规模）the process of making products in large quantities, usually in factories and government support for 'embodied AI'. Since a robot dance show in 2025, China has been excited about robots, which many see as helpers for an agingaging/ˈeɪdʒɪŋ/L2变老的，老龄化becoming older; used to describe a population with many elderly people workforce. One company, LinkerBot, makes 5,000 hands each month, and more than half of new factory robots are in China.
Making robotic hands is very difficult. Zhou Yong, founder of LinkerBot, says it is 'one hundred times more difficult' than making a humanoid. For example, China's cheap supply chain helps with hardware, like batteries and motors. However, the softwaresoftware/ˈsɒftweər/L2软件（计算机程序）the programs and instructions that control a computer or machine problem is even harder. Teaching hands to do simple tasks, like packing groceries, can require hundreds of training hours, and nobody knows how to control them well yet.
To collect data, companies use sensorssensors/ˈsensəz/L2传感器，感应器devices that detect and measure changes in the environment, like movement or touch and gloves. Wuji Technology makes a glove that captures movement and touch. As a result, the industry is growing fast. In 2025, it was worth 50 billion yuan, up from 13 billion in 2024. Zhou dreams of a future where robotic hands build more robotic hands.
