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China’s Spring Gala Puts Backflipping Humanoids Center Stage as Sector Moves to Scale

The broadcast doubled as an industrial policy showcase pointing to China’s intent to mass-produce humanoid robots.

Overview

  • Dozens of Unitree humanoids performed fully autonomous kung fu, parkour and aerial flips alongside child performers, with Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab also taking the stage.
  • Engineers credited new motion-planning AI, lidar-based localization, upgraded motors and a multi-robot cluster control platform for the agility, synchronization and fault recovery on display.
  • Official tallies cited 677 million live viewers and billions of social views, and JD.com reported a surge in robot-related searches during the show.
  • Industry trackers said China shipped about 90% of roughly 13,000 humanoids last year, with Morgan Stanley projecting sales could rise to about 28,000 units in 2026.
  • Unitree said it aims to produce 10,000–20,000 humanoids this year and is preparing a Shanghai listing, even as some online commentators question video authenticity and analysts flag dual‑use security risks.