China’s most-watched TV show, CCTV’s annual Spring Festival gala, on Monday showcased the country’s cutting-edge industrial policy and Beijing’s drive to dominate humanoid robots and the future of manufacturing.
Four emerging humanoid robot startups — Unitree Robotics, Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab — demonstrated their products at the gala, a televised event and landmark for China comparable to the Super Bowl for the United States.
The show’s first three sketches featured humanoid robots, including a lengthy martial arts demonstration in which more than a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated fight sequences, brandishing swords, batons and nunchucks in close proximity to human children performing on the show.
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Fight sequences included a technically ambitious one that mimicked the wobbly movements and backward falls of the Chinese martial arts style “drunken boxing,” showcasing innovations in multiple robot coordination and failure recovery – where a robot can get back up after falling.
The show’s opening sketch also prominently featured Alibaba’s AI chatbot Doubao, while four humanoid robots Noetix 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.”
Planned IPOs
The excitement surrounding China’s humanoid robot sector comes as major companies including AgiBot and Unitree prepare for initial public offerings this year, and domestic artificial intelligence startups launch a series of cutting-edge models during the lucrative nine-day Lunar New Year public holiday.
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Last year’s gala wowed spectators with 16 life-size Unitree humanoids twirling scarves and dancing in unison with human performers.
The Unitree founder met with President Xi Jinping weeks later at a high-profile technology symposium — the first of its kind since 2018.
Xi met with five robotics startup founders last year, a number comparable to the four electric vehicle and four semiconductor entrepreneurs he met in the same period, giving the nascent sector unusual visibility.
The CCTV program, which attracted 79% of China’s live TV audience 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 distinguishes the gala from comparable events elsewhere is the channel’s directness between industrial policy and primetime spectacle,” Stieler said.
“Companies that appear on the gala stage receive tangible rewards in the form of government orders, investor attention and market access.”
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China’s strengths
Behind the spectacle of robots running marathons and performing kung fu kicks and somersaults, China has positioned robotics and AI at the center of its next-generation AI+ manufacturing strategy, betting that productivity gains from automation will offset the pressures of its aging workforce.
“Humanoids bring together many of China’s strengths into a single narrative: AI capability, hardware supply chain and manufacturing ambition. They are also the most ‘readable’ format for the public and authorities,” said Beijing-based technology analyst Poe Zhao.
“In a nascent market, attention becomes a resource.”
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China accounted for 90% of the roughly 13,000 humanoid robots sold globally last year, far ahead of U.S. rivals including Tesla’s Optimus, according to research firm Omdia.
Morgan Stanley projects China’s humanoid sales will more than double to 28,000 units this year.
Elon Musk has said he expects his biggest competitors to be Chinese companies as he pivots Tesla toward a focus on embodied AI and its humanoid robot Optimus.
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“People outside of China underestimate China, but China is a next-level adversary,” Musk said last month.
