With costs falling and ecosystems maturing, the humanoid robot industry is poised to leap from pilot projects to large-scale commercialization. This could give the country a new economic growth engine, the report said.

Signs of commercial traction were emerging in March, when Chinese robotics company UBTech Robotics — a provider of robots to automaker Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Co — said that Dongfeng would roll out 20 industrial humanoid robots, with full deployment expected during the first half of this year.

Xie Shaofeng, chief engineer at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a news conference last week that mainstream humanoid robots in China "are increasingly being deployed in manufacturing scenarios — assisting on auto production lines and supporting smart sorting and logistics".