At the headquarters of China’s pioneering robot maker Unitree, visitors are invited to push and kick the G1 — a 1.3-metre-tall, silver humanoid — to test its balance. The Hangzhou-based group is demonstrating the strength of its effort to transform the nascent industry to build humanlike machines. The robots are powered by open-source software that allows buyers to code them to run, dance or execute roundhouse kung-fu kicks. Unitree leads a pack of Chinese start-ups in the sector — including AgiBot, Engine AI, Fourier and UBTech — garnering attention in recent months with made-for-social-media video demonstrations. During China’s big spring festival gala, 16 of Unitree’s H1 bots performed a synchronised folk dance during a live show broadcast to millions of viewers. It was an impressive illustration of China’s capabilities in building humanoid hardware that may become the new frontier in US-China tech competition. Investment banks’ analysts predict the sector could produce the next widely adopted device after smartphones and electric vehicles, and Unitree’s chief executive and founder Wang Xingxing sees the industry experiencing a breakthrough “iPhone moment” within five years. Goldman Sachs expects the global humanoid robot market to be worth as much as $205bn by 2035. Bernstein research analysts estimate annual robot sales of up to 50mn in 2050. Citibank forecasts 648mn humanoid robots by 2040, while Bank of America sees 3bn by 2060.

Full report : How Chinese humanoid startups like Unitree are competing with US companies, fueled by much cheaper components, fast-paced innovation, and state-led financing.