BEIJING: In a martial artist's white silk pyjamas, a man practised tai-chi in harmony with a motorised arm at a Beijing exhibition showcasing a vision of robots with Chinese characteristics.

Vehicles with automated gun turrets sat alongside drink-serving karaoke machines at the World Robot Conference, as manufacturers sought new buyers for their "jiqiren" — "machine people" in Chinese.

The push has support at the highest levels of government.

Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a letter of congratulations for the conference, and the industry is name-checked in the draft version of the country's new five-year plan, the policy document that guides national economic development.

The world's second-largest economy is already the leading market for industrial robots, accounting for a quarter of global sales, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

But executives at a conference roundtable said the real market opportunity was in service robots for the homes and offices of the world's most populous country.

"There are now less than 100,000 robots in Chinese families, not including vacuum cleaners," said Liu Xuenan, chief executive officer of Canbot.

In the future, said Yu Kai, the head of Horizon Robotics, China's automated helpers will do everything from building cars to driving them, predicting that "each person might have 10 robots" — nearly 14 billion potential tin men at current population levels.