China’s most-watched TV show, CCTV’s annual Spring Festival Gala, on Monday showcased the country’s pioneering industrial policy and Beijing’s efforts to dominate humanoid robots and the future of manufacturing.
Four burgeoning humanoid robot startups — Unitree Robotics, Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab — showcased their products at the gala, a televised event and touchstone for China comparable to the Super Bowl for the United States.
The program’s first three sketches prominently featured humanoid robots, including an extended martial arts demonstration where more than a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated combat sequences, waving swords, poles, and nunchucks in close proximity to human child performers.
The fight sequences included a technically ambitious sequence that mimicked the wobbly movements and backward falls of the Chinese martial arts style of “drunken boxing”, showing innovations in multi-robot coordination and breakdown recovery – where a robot can get back up after falling.
The program’s opening skit also prominently featured Alibaba’s AI chatbot Doubao, while four Noetix humanoid robots appeared alongside human actors in a comedy skit, and MagicLab robots performed a synchronized dance with human performers during the song “We Are Made in China.”
Ipos planned
The hype surrounding China’s humanoid robot sector comes as major players including AgiBot and Unitree prepare for their IPOs this year, and as domestic artificial intelligence startups launch a series of cutting-edge models during the lucrative nine Lunar New Year holidays.
Last year’s gala stunned spectators with 16 life-size Unitree humanoids twirling handkerchiefs and dancing in unison with human performers.
The Unitree founder met President Xi Jinping a few weeks later at a high-level technology symposium – the first of its kind since 2018.
Xi has met with five robotics startup founders in the past year, comparable to the four electric vehicle and semiconductor entrepreneurs he met in the same period, giving the nascent sector unusual exposure.
The CCTV broadcast, which attracted 79% of live viewers in China last year, has been used for decades to highlight Beijing’s technological ambitions, including its space program, drones and robotics, said Georg Stieler, managing director for Asia and head of robotics and automation at technology consultancy Stieler.
“What sets the gala apart from comparable events elsewhere is the direct connection between industrial policy and the prime-time spectacle,” Stieler said.
“Companies that appear on the gala stage receive tangible rewards in the form of government orders, investor attention and market access.”
China’s strengths
Behind the spectacle of robots running marathons and performing kung fu kicks and backflips, China has placed robotics and AI at the heart of its next-generation AI+ manufacturing strategy, betting that productivity gains from automation will offset pressures from its aging workforce.
“Humanoids combine many of China’s strengths into a single narrative: AI capability, hardware supply chain, and manufacturing ambition. They are also the most “readable” form factor for the public and officials,” said Poe Zhao, a Beijing-based technology analyst.
“In an early market, attention becomes a resource.”
China accounted for 90% of the approximately 13,000 humanoid robots shipped worldwide last year, far ahead of its American rivals, including Tesla’s Optimus, according to research firm Omdia.
Morgan Stanley predicts that sales of humanoids in China will more than double to 28,000 units this year.
Elon Musk said he expects his biggest competitors to be Chinese companies as he steers Tesla toward a focus on embodied AI and its flagship humanoid Optimus.
“People outside of China underestimate China, but China is a level up,” Musk said last month.
