A pregnant robot that can birth human babies? It may seem like something out of a sci-fi movie, but according to an onslaught of media reports we’re not too far away from it actually happening. It all started when news came out that Chinese media published an interview with Zhang Qifeng, a PhD at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the CEO of Kaiwa Technology. This Chinese robotics startup claims that it’s nearly finished developing a humanoid pregnancy robot that could act as a surrogate.
According to Zhang, the robot will be capable of carrying a human fetus to term and be able to give birth to it, though it’s unclear how the embryo would be implanted into the artificial womb. The scientist says that initial animal testing has been promising, and that the fetus will grow in amniotic fluid fed nutrients through a tube connected at the belly button to mimic human pregnancy.
“Now it needs to be implanted in the robot’s abdomen so that a real person and the robot can interact to achieve pregnancy, allowing the fetus to grow inside,” he says.
Zhang also told journalists that he expects an initial prototype to go on sale for 100,000 yuan (about $14,000) at some point in 2026. As one might imagine, news of the pregnancy robot has stirred up some strong opinions. Yi Fuxian, an obstetrician at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who conducts demographic research, told Newsweek that while the robot was “likely just a gimmick,” people needed to be aware of the complexities of human pregnancy and that efforts to mimic it could lead to long-term health effects, both mental and physical.
Now we need to wait and see if the news is even real, as Snopes reports that its efforts to verify Zhang’s identity have fallen flat. Nanyang Technological University stated that no student by that name had studied there and that no research into a pregnancy robot had been conducted. Zhang also doesn’t appear on the attendance list for Beijing’s World Robot Expo, where the announcement of the robot supposedly occurred. These factors, coupled with the fact that all of the articles only use AI-generated images to illustrate the invention, led Snopes to declare this a case of false news.
Source: ‘Pregnancy robot' that will give birth to live baby expected to be released next year; China Tech CEO Reveals Plans for Humanoid ‘Pregnancy Robot'; No, a ‘pregnancy robot' wasn't developed in China as option for surrogacy
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