Dancing humanoid robots took center stage Monday during China Media Group’s annual Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched official television broadcast. They jumped and did backflips (getting down on their knees), they spun around and jumped. Not even one fell.
The demonstration was impressive, but left some people wondering: If robots can now dance and do martial arts, what else can they do?
Experts have mixed opinions, with some saying that the robot had limitations and that the performance should be viewed through the lens of state propaganda.
Developed by several Chinese robotics firms, the robots performed complex stunts including kung fu, comedy sketches and choreographed dance moves alongside human performers.
clips Roam Online immediately drew comparisons with last year’s Lunar New Year broadcast, which also featured dancing robots, but with significantly simpler movements.
Kyle Chan, an expert on China’s technology development at the Brookings Institution, a policy organization in Washington, DC, said Beijing uses these public robot demonstrations to “dazzle domestic and international audiences with China’s technological prowess.”
“Unlike AI models or industrial equipment, humanoid robots are highly visible examples of China’s technological leadership that ordinary audiences can watch on their phones or televisions,” he said.
Pointing to the growing competition in the tech sector between China and the US, Chan said: “While China and the US are at loggerheads on AI, humanoid robots are one area where China can claim to be ahead of the US, especially in terms of scaling up production.”
George Styler, head of robotics and automation at global technology consulting firm Styler Technology & Marketing, also emphasized the symbolism of China’s prime time broadcast.
“What differentiates this event from comparable events elsewhere is the immediacy of the pipeline from industrial policy to prime-time spectacle,” Steeler said in a statement.
Comparing this year’s performance to last year’s – when audiences saw a “fundamentally single choreographic mode” with limited motions including walking, turning and kicking – Stiller said a key sign of China’s robotic progress is “the ability to move large numbers of identical humanoids in synchronized motion with stable gait and consistent joint behaviour”.
But Stiller also said: “Stage performance still doesn’t equate to industrial strength.” He said what the robots did was “the result of being trained hundreds or thousands of times on a regular basis – you can’t just tell them to change direction or do something completely different”.
“These dance motions involve very little environmental perception and essentially involve simulation learning as well as controllers maintaining balance. This has little impact on reliability in unstructured environments, which is a prerequisite for factory-grade deployment. Also progress in dexterity is not as rapid as it is in speed,” he said.
The unveiling of China’s latest generation of robots outlines the country’s broader technological ambitions.
According to , by the end of 2024, China had registered 451,700 smart robotics companies, with a total capital of 6.44tn yuan (about $932.16bn). state data. Major government projects such as Made in China 2025 and the 14th Five-Year Plan have made robotics and AI key priorities for Beijing.
Morgan Stanley estimates that China’s humanoid sales will more than double to 28,000 units in 2026; And Elon Musk has said he expects his biggest competitors to be Chinese companies as he pushes Tesla to focus on embodied AI and its flagship humanoid Optimus. “People outside China underestimate China, but China is a next-level ass-kicking country,” Musk said last month.
Marina Zhang, a technology professor at the University of Technology Sydney, said such a visual display potentially signals a new phase in China’s manufacturing masterplan, “where robotics becomes a key link in the shift from low-cost assembly to high-end, smart manufacturing”.
with reuters
