China showcased advanced dancing humanoid robots at its Spring Festival Gala, performing intricate stunts and martial arts, signaling its growing technological prowess and ambitions in AI and robotics, sparking both awe and expert debate on their true capabilities and strategic intent.
During China's most-watched television broadcast, the China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, advanced humanoid robots took center stage, performing complex stunts like lunges, backflips, spins, and kung fu alongside human performers without a single fall. This display, developed by multiple Chinese robotics firms, marked a significant leap from previous years, with noticeably more intricate movements. Experts, however, offered mixed opinions. Kyle Chan of Brookings Institution suggested Beijing uses these performances as "state propaganda" to "dazzle domestic and international audiences with China’s technological prowess," highlighting humanoids as a visible example of China's leadership, particularly in scaling production, amidst intensifying tech competition with the US. Georg Stieler of Stieler Technology and Marketing emphasized the symbolism of the direct link between industrial policy and prime-time spectacle, noting the progress in running large numbers of synchronized humanoids with stable gaits. However, Stieler cautioned that "stage performance does not equate to industrial robustness, yet," explaining that the robots were trained for specific routines and lacked significant environmental perception, limiting their reliability in unstructured environments. The robots' unveiling underscores China's broader technological ambitions, with the country registering over 451,700 smart robotics companies and significant government investment through initiatives like Made in China 2025. Projections from Morgan Stanley anticipate a doubling of China's humanoid sales, and even Elon Musk acknowledges Chinese companies as major competitors in embodied AI. Marina Zhang of the University of Technology Sydney views this showcase as a signal of a new phase in China's manufacturing strategy, moving towards high-end, smart manufacturing with robotics as a core component.
