China's Pregnancy Robot Is Capable Of Birthing Live Baby

bobcat said:
Snopes says it's fake: No, a 'pregnancy robot' wasn't developed in China as option for surrogacy
However, even if it were possible at some point, I don't think we fully understand all the elements at work in the miracle of childbirth. Antibodies are shared, bonding, and likely a host of other necessary functions that the genius of nature has engineered for hundreds of millions of years. This is way more complex than growing a tomato using hydroponics.
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Thank you for letting me know Bob! The person who posted it on another forum is usually very good about fact checking things, so I didn't think to do it myself. This lets me know I still need to do that. I'm going to let her know it's fake news.
 

OneEyedDiva said:
Thank you for letting me know Bob! The person who posted it on another forum is usually very good about fact checking things, so I didn't think to do it myself. This lets me know I still need to do that. I'm going to let her know it's fake news.
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Well, it may not have happened yet, but gazing into the future, I would guess it's somewhere on the horizon. One can't ignore the legalities and ethics it may light the fuse to, but also in us reevaluating the intrinsic value of motherhood.

To expand on that a bit, I think it will introduce some legal standing into the abortion debate with regard to possibly changing the parental rights of the mother in that decision. Once an artificial womb contains a fertilized egg, does it now have the right to life that supersedes the decision of the mother that about half of the states allow, or will it change the timeline over when the fetus is viable? IDK.

What are the guarantees? What are the risks? Will insurance pay for this? How will churches view this? I think the temptation would be tremendous for some mothers who work outside the home, or enjoy having cocktails, or hiking, or are just not favoring all the demands it places on the human body.

I have no clue what part emotions play between a mother and the child during the time she is pregnant. How does a mother feel when she has another life growing inside of her? What does the growing fetus feel when it is inside the mother? Does the fetus sense her heartbeat or feel her love? Would her voice sound different to the growing baby if it's in a plastic bubble?

I can't help but think that reducing this to achievable mechanics may be applying clinical thinking to an innately and deeply personal experience. Perhaps I'm wrong.
 
bobcat said:
Well, it may not have happened yet, but gazing into the future, I would guess it's somewhere on the horizon. One can't ignore the legalities and ethics it may light the fuse to, but also in us reevaluating the intrinsic value of motherhood.

To expand on that a bit, I think it will introduce some legal standing into the abortion debate with regard to possibly changing the parental rights of the mother in that decision. Once an artificial womb contains a fertilized egg, does it now have the right to life that supersedes the decision of the mother that about half of the states allow, or will it change the timeline over when the fetus is viable? IDK.

What are the guarantees? What are the risks? Will insurance pay for this? How will churches view this? I think the temptation would be tremendous for some mothers who work outside the home, or enjoy having cocktails, or hiking, or are just not favoring all the demands it places on the human body.

I have no clue what part emotions play between a mother and the child during the time she is pregnant. How does a mother feel when she has another life growing inside of her? What does the growing fetus feel when it is inside the mother? Does the fetus sense her heartbeat or feel her love? Would her voice sound different to the growing baby if it's in a plastic bubble?

I can't help but think that reducing this to achievable mechanics may be applying clinical thinking to an innately and deeply personal experience. Perhaps I'm wrong.
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As usual, you make good points and ask very important questions Bob.
 

MarciKS said:
according to the internet the image itself is ai because the actual thing hasn't been designed yet. there is a baby that was supposedly born in an actual real life ai womb according to newsweek. baby is named luis. that image is just a prototype idea and nothing more at this point. what bothers me is the word "interact". what exactly does that involve???

We are the parents of the first ever baby born to AI—Here's how it happened
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Wow...what a process! Baby Luis is adorable though. @Nathan mentioned cost for the artificial womb surrogate. I also wonder how much this AI process cost little Luis' parents.
 
RadishRose said:
Yes, and even downright silly. It may even be a fake image of what the contraption may actually look like.
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@bobcat replied that Snopes said this is fake news and @MarciKS replied that it is indeed an AI generated image. But since I have no doubt that something at least similar is in the works, I Googled it. Here's what I found (and not from the Daily Mail @fuzzybuddy).
"The bold vision of a humanoid surrogate pregnancy robot was presented at the 2025 World Robot Conference in Beijing by Zhang Qifeng, founder of Kaiwa Technology and affiliated with Nanyang Technological University, according to ECNS.

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."
Further down in the article:
"Artificial wombs have shown promising results in animal studies. In 2017, researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia successfully nurtured a premature lamb—equivalent to 23 weeks of human pregnancy—in a “biobag,” a transparent vinyl sac filled with warm, saline-based artificial amniotic fluid."
Full article here:
China’s Kaiwa plans world’s first pregnancy humanoid robot

Also check out this Fox news report:

@RadishRose @Olivia
 
WhatInThe said:
They might be able to construct and supply an artificial womb but can they really supply it with everything a mother does including ALL the nutrients, hormones, cells etc in the same form a mother would. If the caretaker misses or messes something up the fetus is done.
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Yeah - maybe the caretaker will be a perfect AI robot.

I have no problems with an artificial womb being developed. Preemies often spend months in the NICU, a brightly lit and noisy place that I don't think is good for fetuses -- considering where they came from (dark, quiet, watery). So I am for it for that reason.

I'm not too fond of people using an artificial womb so they can go about their lives while a machine takes care of the developing fetus.

Rich people could have lots of those long chicken houses and fill them with wombs to breed workers.

I guess I'm getting cantankerous because I don't see the need for a lot of this stuff - I don't think having the obscenely rich tech bros in charge of advances that will likely, in the end, only benefit them. Next thing you know, part of harvesting transplant organs will include hey,, grab the eggs and sperm while you are at it, bro.
 
smiley said:
well God did it with adam and eve to start with didn't he/she?
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Doubtful. That immediately begs the question -- where did their kids find mates? Incest? Does God seem to be pro-incest? If not, did God supply mates for the children, and just not mention it? Why, when he mentioned a bunch of other related stuff?
 
WheatenLover said:
Doubtful. That immediately begs the question -- where did their kids find mates? Incest? Does God seem to be pro-incest? If not, did God supply mates for the children, and just not mention it? Why, when he mentioned a bunch of other related stuff?
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I doubt if he /she is gonna give you all the answers right now?
 
Artificial wombs could provide alternatives for those unable to carry a pregnancy (due to medical conditions, age, or gender identity), potentially democratizing reproduction. From what I've seen, technology has a long history of opening doors without knowing what's on the other side. There is something transformative that happens in a woman's brain when she is carrying a new life inside her. It is a miracle of nature and almost sacred. It's not like a robot cooking dinner. The emotional attachment is real.

The value or cost of prioritizing efficiency over human experience may not be evident for many years as those children mature. That being said, no doubt there will be circumstances that this technology will benefit. If a mother is at a high risk for miscarriage, this may provide a way forward. In addition, a working mother wouldn't need to take time off, or likely it will do away with premature births, and complications for children who are born that way. Some women even die in childbirth, and again, this sidesteps that risk.

I think the technology will offer benefits in some situations, but challenges and less desirable outcomes in others. I like to keep an open mind, but as with cloning and other breakthroughs, we should proceed cautiously.
 
just caught a snippet on tv of find of pre-human forms - not quite human not quite animal - the precursor to us ?? - seems the bible might be a bit one-sided??
 

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