China has unveiled an ambitious plan to mass-produce humanoid robots within two years, Business Insider and Bloomberg report.

The plan was revealed in a document released last week by Beijing’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which said robots are “reshaping the world” we live in.

The Chinese ministry believes that humanoid robots will be advanced enough for mass production by 2025, publishing a step-by-step list of their development.

“They are expected to become disruptive products after computers, smartphones and vehicles based on new energy,” said a document published by the ministry.

Bloomberg, however, notes that it offers high ambitions, but that it is less clear in terms of specific details.

Chinese companies have already overtaken the government in creating humanoid robots

But some private companies in China have already started developing such robots. For example, startup Fourier Intelligence said it will begin mass production of its humanoid robot, called the GR-1, by the end of this year, the South China Morning Post reported.

The Shanghai-based company told a Chinese newspaper that it hopes to deliver thousands of robots next year, with the GR-1 capable of carrying up to 50 kilograms of weight and reaching speeds of 5 kilometers per hour.

The document, released by China’s industry ministry, also said domestically developed robots must be able to work in “harsh” environments, but did not elaborate on what that would mean.

The ministry in Beijing, however, admits that until mass production of humanoid robots is achieved, current technologies related to them must be “significantly improved” to “form a safe and reliable industrial chain.”

Although humanoid robots have been overlooked recently due to the faster development of other technologies, a small group of AI-equipped models attracted attention in July at a UN conference in Geneva after they said they could one day rule the world much better than people.

In the USA, they are developing their own robots that imitate people

The specialized site futurism.com also talks about the behind-the-scenes “arms race” between China and the US, taking into account the use of robots in industry and the army.

Although other companies such as Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics are considered by experts to be leaders in the US market, perhaps the most famous humanoid robot developed by an American company is Optimus, a model produced by Tesla.

Last October, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a prototype Optimus robot, saying the electric car maker could produce hundreds of millions of them and that the model would sell for less than $20,000.

As always, experts took Musk’s promises with caution.

But the South African billionaire still said he expects Tesla to be ready to take orders for the robot in three to five years, and described the effort to develop the product as a decade or more.