China's robotics industry has largely focused on industrial and military applications in recent years. But the sector is making a foray into consumer electronics thanks to the rise of artificial Intelligence and falling costs for key components.

At the Songshan Lake International Marathon held in March 2016 in China’s southern manufacturing hub of Dongguan, a crowd of special "participants" stole the show throughout the running event.

The robots are mostly provided by Ubtech Robotics, the biggest producer of consumer robots in Shenzhen, and one of the few robot R & D companies in China. The appearance came months after their flagship product - Alfa robots delivered a dance performance at China Central Television’s widely-watched Spring Festival Gala.

"I think that robots, when you look at the future market, have vast room for growth, and I think that robots and artificial intelligence represent the future. They represent the direction that the world is developing in. That's why I chose to work with robots and artificial intelligence," said Zhou Jian, founder & chairman of Ubtech Robotics.

Today, Ubtech is valued at more than USD 1 billion. It has become the only 'unicorn’ in the Chinese humanoid robot industry.

"Ubtech is a great example of a robotics company that has entered the mainstream. There's this white paper that revealed that by 2015, the entire robot industry in Shenzhen was worth 63 billion yuan," said Bi Yalei, general secretary of Shenzhen Robotics Association.

"Actually, most of this is made up of industrial robots and artificial intelligence. Service robot companies like Ubtech represent the future, because common households represent a much larger demand than the manufacturing industry."

Industry insiders say the booming market demand means opportunities for the Chinese robotics industry. They are urging the country’s industry players to hone their technological edges, and to work with global players to boost competitiveness.

Bi also said, "I guess China has mastered many smart technologies, such as the facial recognition systems, object detection systems and the big data technology. These technologies will be key to robots in the future and I think China is taking a leading role in the world in this respect."

"However, when it comes to the manufacture of the key components of industrial robots or the manufacturing level along the entire production line, in my opinion, there’s still a lot of work for China to do. We’re in a very open market. We are free to cooperate with various international manufacturers and make exchanges.

The Chinese government has played an active role in developing the smart manufacturing and robotics over recent years.  Analysts believe an increasingly friendly environment will help power the rise of Chinese companies in the huge robotics market.