China to build humanoid robots by 2025

China has unveiled plans to build humanoid robots that can work in farms, factories and houses within two years.

Beijing’s ministry of industry and information technology has laid out plans to support bipedal robots by funding a series of breakthroughs.

The ambition represents a new technological challenge to the US, where companies like Boston Dynamics and Elon Musk’s Tesla are developing humanoid robots.

Amazon is testing humanoids in its warehouses, recently unveiling a robot called Digit that has arms and legs.

A document from the Chinese ministry says robots will be as “disruptive” as “computers, smartphones and new energy vehicles” and will require advances in both artificial intelligence and artificial limbs.

The machines will “profoundly change human production and lifestyle and reshape the global industrial development pattern”, officials said.

The document, which did not outline plans for military uses, said humanoid robots could be used in special environments facing harsh conditions, such as rescuing humans.

China also wants to use the machines in medical settings and to clean houses.

Beijing wants the first robots to arrive in 2025 but said they would be “significantly improved” by 2027.

Shares in Chinese robotics companies surged after the announcement, which did not outline specific programmes for achieving the 2025 goal.

Humanoid robots have been a fascination within the technology industry for decades but have struggled to break through into widespread use. Robots find it difficult to master skills that humans find basic such as maintaining balance while walking.

However, interest in the technology is picking up amid advances in AI.

Elon Musk’s Tesla has unveiled a robot called Optimus that is being built using the same AI systems as its cars use.

Mr Musk has said that he can imagine a future in which everyone owns one or two Optimus bots, suggesting billions of sales.

Speaking to Rishi Sunak on Thursday in an event broadcast on Twitter, Mr Musk said that a shortage of robots would be a constraint on an AI-driven “age of abundance” but said there was a risk they would “chase us”. He said robots will need an off switch.

Today, the best known robot maker is Boston Dynamics, which was once owned by Google before being sold to SoftBank and then Hyundai. It makes a humanoid called Atlas.