China’s dancing humanoid robots showcase advances and limits

Dancing humanoid robots took centre stage on Monday during the China Media Group Spring Festival Gala, the country’s most-watched official television broadcast. They lunged and backflipped (landing on their knees), spun and jumped — not one fell — prompting viewers to ask: if robots can now dance and perform martial arts, what else can they do?

Built by several Chinese robotics firms, the machines performed kung fu, comedy sketches and choreographed routines alongside human performers. Clips online contrasted this display with last year’s lunar new year broadcast, which showed simpler movements, and the performance was presented as evidence of a push toward more advanced robots powered by improved AI capabilities.

Kyle Chan of the Brookings Institution said Beijing uses public robot performances to “dazzle domestic and international audiences with China’s technological prowess,” adding that humanoid robots are a visible way to signal progress.

China, Beijing

humanoid robots, dancing robots, china media, spring gala, kung fu, martial arts, robotics firms, ai capabilities, brookings institution, kyle chan