Humanoid robots take centre stage at China’s Super Bowl
Laurie Chen
Beijing: The annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched TV show, showcased the country’s cutting-edge industrial policy and Beijing’s push to dominate humanoid robots and the future of manufacturing.
Four emerging humanoid robot start-ups – Unitree Robotics, Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab – showcased their products at the gala, a televised event and a milestone for China comparable to the Super Bowl in the United States.
The first three drafts of the program featured humanoid robots prominently; these included a lengthy martial arts demonstration in which more than a dozen Unitree humanoids performed complex fighting scenes swinging swords, poles, and nunchucks at near-human child performers.
Fight scenes included a technically ambitious set of scenes that mimicked the wobbly movements and backward falls of the Chinese “drunken boxing” martial arts style, demonstrating innovations in multi-robot coordination and debugging (where a robot can get back up after falling).
The show’s opening sketch also prominently featured Bytedance’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 Produce in China.
IPOs planned
The excitement surrounding China’s humanoid robot sector comes as major players such as AgiBot and Unitree are gearing up for initial public offerings this year, and local AI start-ups are launching a number of pioneering models during the lucrative nine-day Lunar New Year public holiday.
Last year’s gala wowed audiences with 16 full-size Unitree humanoids twirling handkerchiefs and dancing in unison with humans.
Weeks later, Unitree’s founder met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a high-profile tech symposium, the first of its kind since 2018.
Xi met five robotics start-up founders last year; This compares to the four electric vehicle and four semiconductor entrepreneurs he met in the same time period.
sector unusual visibility.
The CCTV show, which attracted 79 percent of live TV viewers in China last year, has been used for decades to highlight Beijing’s technology ambitions, including its space program, unmanned aerial vehicles and robotics, said Georg Stieler, Asia managing director and head of robotics and automation at technology consultancy Stieler.
“What distinguishes the premiere from similar events elsewhere is that the pipeline from industrial policy to prime-time show is direct,” Stieler said.
“Companies that take to the premiere stage reap tangible rewards in government mandates, investor interest and market access.”
“It’s only been a year, and the increase in performance is remarkable,” Stieler said, adding that the robots’ impressive motion control demonstrates Unitree’s focus on developing robot “brains” (AI-powered software that enables them to complete fine motor tasks that can be used in real-world factory settings).
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 center of its next-generation AI+ manufacturing strategy, believing that productivity gains from automation will offset the pressures of an 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 authorities,” said Poe Zhao, a Beijing-based technology analyst.
“In the early stages of the market, attention becomes a resource.”
China accounted for 90 percent of the nearly 13,000 humanoid robots shipped worldwide last year, according to research firm Omdia, far ahead of U.S. rivals including Tesla’s Optimus.
Morgan Stanley predicts China’s humanoid sales will more than double this year to 28,000 units.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said he expects Chinese companies to be Tesla’s biggest rivals as it focuses on embodied artificial intelligence and its flagship humanoid, Optimus.
“People outside of China underestimate China, but China is very successful at the next level,” Musk said last month.
Reuters
Take notes directly from our foreign country reporters about things that make headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What’s on in the World Newsletter.
