深圳10月15日电 —— 在中国初创企业“逐际动力”的办公室里，屏幕显示着一个虚拟机器人在桌子上放置物品。随着手臂角度、桌子颜色以及物品本身的变化，它重复着这项任务。
SHENZHEN, Oct 15 - At the offices of Chinese startup DexForce, a screen shows a virtual robot placing objects on a table. It repeats the task as the angle of its arms, the colour of the table and the objects themselves change.
总部位于中国南部科技重镇深圳的“逐际动力”正押注，这种模拟训练有助于解决人形机器人行业最大的挑战之一：教会机器人在没有人类协助的情况下执行各种现实世界的任务。
DexForce, based in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, is betting that such simulated training can help solve one of the humanoid-robot industry's biggest challenges: teaching machines to perform a wide range of real-world tasks without human assistance.
中国已经开发出在奔跑和跳跃方面能够超越人类的人形机器人，但更艰难的商业考验在于它们是否能够可靠地在工厂、办公室和家庭中开展有用的工作。
China has developed humanoids capable of outperforming humans in running and jumping but the harder commercial test lies in whether they can reliably carry out useful work in factories, offices and the home.
许多中国机器人制造商正试图通过收集人类工人在现实世界中重复执行任务的大量数据来应对这一挑战。“逐际动力”则依赖于在虚拟环境中生成的合成数据来降低成本并提高训练效率。
Many Chinese robot makers are trying to meet that challenge by collecting large volumes of data from human workers repeatedly performing tasks in the real world. DexForce is relying on synthetic data generated in virtual environments to cut costs and improve training efficiency.
首席执行官贾奎告诉路透社，这种方法可以更快地推动机器人能力实现突破，类似于2022年ChatGPT发布后推动生成式人工智能走向主流的那种突破。
Chief Executive Jia Kui told Reuters the approach could more quickly power a breakthrough in robot capability, akin to the one ChatGPT triggered after its 2022 release helped propel generative AI into the mainstream.
贾奎在谈到一个技术里程碑（即人形机器人在陌生环境中凭指令完成新任务）时表示：“试图纯粹通过现实世界的数据收集来实现‘物理通用人工智能’将需要10万亿个样本……为无限的人类任务进行手动（数据）收集从根本上说是低效的。”
"Trying to achieve 'physical artificial general intelligence' purely through real-world data collection would require 10 trillion samples ... manual (data) collection for infinite human tasks is fundamentally inefficient," said Jia, referring to a technological milestone where a humanoid can complete new tasks in an unfamiliar environment on command.
达到这一目标将需要能够感知并导航其周围环境以及适应变化的AI系统。
Reaching that point will require AI systems that can perceive and navigate their surroundings and adapt to variation.
从虚拟到现实世界 “逐际动力”开发了旨在模拟物理环境的人工智能软件，以及旨在预测物体如何移动和交互的模型。
FROM VIRTUAL TO REAL WORLD DexForce develops AI software designed to simulate physical environments and models intended to predict how objects move and interact.
它创建了工作场所或任务的数字版本，在模拟中训练机器人，然后将该学习成果转移到实体机器上。
It creates a digital version of a workplace or task, trains a robot in the simulation and then transfers that learning to physical machines.
该公司表示，这一过程比从人类培训师那里收集数据更快、更便宜，人类培训师可能需要重复一个动作100多次才能生成精确的示例。
The company says the process is faster and cheaper than collecting data from human trainers, who may need to repeat a movement more than 100 times to generate precise examples.
目前全国各地正在斥巨资建设数十个人形机器人数据训练中心，并且往往严重依赖政府补贴。
Dozens of humanoid robot data training centres are currently being built nationwide at great expense, and are often heavily reliant on government subsidies.
大多数中国机器人制造商都在结合使用模拟数据和现实世界数据，许多制造商表示，获取高质量的训练数据仍然是一个关键瓶颈。
Most Chinese robot makers use a combination of simulated and real-world data, and many say access to high-quality training data remains a key bottleneck.
受到中国大型企业集团支持的初创企业 香港中文大学（深圳）机器学习教授贾奎于2021年创立了“逐际动力”。
STARTUP BACKED BY CHINESE CONGLOMERATES Jia, a machine-learning professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, founded DexForce in 2021.
这家拥有约500名员工的初创企业得到了联想旗下投资部门联想创投以及蓝思科技的支持，还获得了数只国有基金的支持，并在最近的B轮融资中筹集了10亿元人民币（约合1.47亿美元），估值超过100亿元人民币。
The roughly 500-employee startup is backed by Lenovo Capital, the investment arm of Lenovo, and Lens Technology, as well as several state-owned funds and raised 1 billion yuan ($147 million) in a recent Series B funding round at a valuation of more than 10 billion yuan.
彭博社曾报道称该公司正在考虑在香港进行首次公开募股（IPO），但贾奎对此拒绝置评。
Bloomberg reported it was considering a Hong Kong IPO, but Jia declined to comment.
该公司的软件已被丰田、三星、松下、富士康、海尔和海信等中外制造商用于工业环境，而其人形机器人则在全国15个城市的商场和旅游景点制作咖啡并服务顾客。
The firm's software is used in industrial settings by Chinese and foreign manufacturers including Toyota, Samsung, Panasonic, Foxconn, Haier, and Hisense, while its humanoid robots make coffee and serve customers at malls and tourist sites in more than 15 cities nationwide.