Robots have taken another step closer to playing a mainstream role in human society with an appearance on China’s biggest holiday television show of the year. The sight of humanoids alongside flesh-and-blood performers sparked an online buying spree and offered more proof that the world must prepare for the arrival of the machines.

The devices created by the nation’s leading humanoid robotics companies dominated the Spring Festival Gala last week. They did martial arts backflips, performed in a musical number and joined a comedy segment. The annual Lunar New Year variety spectacle is a huge marketing platform, and this year’s viewership on all platforms was more than 23 billion views – a 13-year high for the live show.

It is not surprising that interest in the robots surged after the programme. Hangzhou-based Unitree had to push back delivery dates for its G1 humanoids from the martial arts performance. Thousands of users checked out the G1 as well as Noetix’s Bumi companion robot from the comedy sketch. While the cost of the machines is still out of reach for most consumers, the online frenzy reflects growing public acceptance – and not just in China. Unitree alone shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots last year. Nearly 90 per cent of global humanoid robot shipments last year reportedly were from Chinese firms. They are also outpacing Western companies in patents and scale of production.

As the gap from research to commercial reality narrows and artificial intelligence is integrated into such machines, it is easier to envision the robotic backup dancers and martial artists playing traditional labour roles in homes, hospitals and nursing homes. However, innovation must not come at the expense of human dignity. We must ensure that robotic efficiency complements human creativity, livelihoods and welfare.

Human-machine collaboration on screen should accelerate efforts to formulate policy and help workers whose jobs could be automated to adapt. As robots become more “humanoid” in their movements, we must ensure our societies do not become more “machine-like” in how they treat their people.