New Delhi, March 17 -- Toyota's factory in Woodstock, Ontario, will soon deploy Digit, a humanoid robot from Agility Robotics, on its production floor. These bipedal machines will unload auto parts from warehouse tuggers and onto the production line-work that until now was performed by humans. Toyota chose humanoid robots because its factories are designed for people. By using robots that move like humans, Toyota can automate without redesigning its assembly lines.

On the face of it, this is a small efficiency improvement. But it is a signal of something far larger: the rise of embodied AI and its potential to reshape the global economy. It indicates a future in which countries that build robots will prosper while those that rely on labo...