Japanese were the first to create a humanoid robot. It’s been almost 10 years since Asimo’s launch, nowadays there are dozens of humanoid robots in Japan. There is a company called Kondo Robot that makes low cost humanoid mini-robots. They cost around 1.000$, and are usually available in electronics shops around Akihabara.
Kondo robots are programmable, but people usually use them using remote controllers. For example, there are competitions where humanoid remote controlled robot teams play soccer. Every year there is a pretty popular competition in Akihabara organized by Robo dreams.
There are lots of “robot competitions”, I personally know: Robolympics, Robogames andRobocup.
