China’s humanoid robots grabbed global attention with kung fu flips at the nation’s televised Spring Festival Gala, while Chinese phone maker Honor is set to unveil its first humanoid robot at MWC in Spain. Robotics was flagged as a priority under the country’s “Made in China 2025” plan, albeit originally focused on factory automation, rather than humanoids. Now, rapid advances in multimodal AI are accelerating so-called embodied AI — autonomous machines operating in the real world — a push officials say could help offset labor shortages and drive productivity gains. At this early stage of humanoid robot development, Chinese companies are outpacing their U.S. rivals in both speed and volume, Selina Xu, a China and AI policy lead at the office of Eric Schmidt said.

Full report : China’s robots and humanoids are creating a momentum while United States is still getting its feet wet.