Imagine watching your country’s biggest New Year TV special and suddenly seeing robots doing backflips and martial arts on stage. That’s exactly what happened in China this year and honestly it was hard to look away.
The 2026 Spring Festival Gala its China’s most-watched annual TV event. Featured humanoid robots performing live stunts in front of hundreds of millions of viewers. It was entertaining. But it was also a big statement about where China is heading with AI and robotics.
TL;DR — Key Takeaways
- 🤖 Four Chinese robotics companies performed live humanoid robot stunts at the 2026 Spring Festival Gala
- 🧠 Alibaba launched Qwen 3.5, a 397-billion-parameter AI model built for agentic AI
- 📱 ByteDance upgraded Doubao 2.0 and released Seedance 2.0, a smarter video generation tool
- 📈 China accounted for roughly 90% of all humanoid robots shipped globally last year
- 🏭 Forecasts suggest humanoid shipments in China will more than double this year
- 🚗 Elon Musk already named Chinese companies as Tesla Optimus’s biggest future competitors
What Did the Robots Actually Do?
Four robotics companies like Unitree, Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab brought their humanoid machines to the gala stage. These weren’t slow, wobbly robots carefully tiptoeing around. They:
- Performed kung fu and martial arts sequences
- Did table vaults and aerial flips over three meters high
- Moved together in synchronized routines
- Sprinted at speeds of up to four meters per second
The fact that this happened on live national TV is a big deal. These robots had to perform reliably in front of a massive audience with no room for error. That alone shows how far the technology has come in just a few years.
It’s Not Just About the Show
Here’s the thing the robot performance was cool. But the real story is what’s happening behind the scenes.
Around the same time as the gala, China’s biggest tech companies launched new AI models:
- Alibaba dropped Qwen 3.5, a massive 397-billion-parameter AI model built for what they call the agentic AI era. In simple terms, this model doesn’t just answer questions. It can take actions, use apps and complete multi-step tasks on your phone or computer.
- ByteDance upgraded Doubao to version 2.0. Its popular AI chatbot and also released Seedance 2.0. A new video AI tool that syncs audio and video together more naturally.
So in one week, China showed off both smarter robot bodies AND smarter AI brains. That combination is exactly what the industry has been building toward for years.
Why Does This Matter for Everyday People?
You might be thinking okay, robots doing flips is impressive but how does this affect me?
Fair question. Right now most humanoid robots are still being tested and aren’t in your local store or workplace yet. But the direction is clear. Companies are already planning to use these robots in:
- Warehouses to move and sort packages
- Factories to handle repetitive tasks
- Public spaces to assist staff or customers
Think about how fast electric cars went from a niche product to something you see on every street. Humanoid robots could follow a similar path especially as prices drop and AI models get better at controlling them.
China Humanoid Robots moving fast
This isn’t just talk. The growth in this space is real:
- Research firm Omdia estimates roughly 13,000 humanoid robots shipped globally last year with about 90% coming from Chinese manufacturers
- Morgan Stanley forecasts that number could more than double to 28,000 units in China alone this year
- Two of the leading humanoid makers Unitree and AgiBot are reportedly preparing stock market listings
Those IPO plans are a strong signal. When companies start going public. It usually means investors believe the market is about to get very serious and serious money is following.
How Does China Compare to Tesla and the West?
If you follow tech news, you’ve probably heard Elon Musk talk about Tesla’s Optimus robot. Musk himself has said Chinese companies will be his biggest competitors in this space and looking at what just happened at the Lunar New Year gala, it’s easy to see why.
Western companies are mostly focused on behind-the-scenes factory testing and quiet R&D. Chinese companies are doing that too. But they’re also putting robots on the world’s biggest stages, in viral videos and on national TV. That’s a different playbook. They’re building public comfort with humanoid robots faster, and that matters a lot for adoption down the road.
What to Watch Next
The kung fu robots grabbed the headlines, but here’s what to actually keep an eye on over the next couple of years:
- Will humanoids move from stage to factory floor? Pilot programs in warehouses and logistics will be the real test
- Can AI models like Qwen 3.5 actually drive robots in real tasks? Agentic AI is still early execution matters more than announcements
- How fast will prices drop? Cheaper hardware means faster adoption across industries
China’s Lunar New Year wasn’t just a celebration. It was a preview of a country combining powerful AI, capable robots and strong manufacturing into one big push. Those backflipping robots on stage? They might just be the warm-up act for something much bigger.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these robots fully autonomous or pre-programmed?
Some performances used autonomous cluster control, meaning the robots used onboard AI to coordinate together in real time not just pre-recorded movements played back on a timer.
What is agentic AI and why does it matter?
Agentic AI refers to AI that doesn’t just respond to questions. It takes real actions, like clicking buttons, filling forms or managing tasks across apps. Alibaba’s Qwen 3.5 is built specifically for this kind of AI behavior.
When will humanoid robots actually enter workplaces?
Industry pilots in warehouses and factories are already happening. Most experts expect meaningful commercial deployments to scale between 2026 and 2028. Which is depending on cost reductions and reliability improvements.
How does China’s humanoid push affect the global AI race?
It accelerates competition. When one country moves fast on both AI software and robot hardware together, it pushes every other player. Including U.S. companies like Tesla and Figure AI to speed up their own timelines.
Sources
These sources were used to verify the facts, data, and claims in this article:
- Reuters — “China’s humanoid robots take centre stage for Lunar New Year” (February 16, 2026) — reuters.com
- CNBC — “Alibaba unveils Qwen3.5 as China’s chatbot race shifts to AI agents” (February 17, 2026) — cnbc.com
- Yahoo Finance / Reuters — “Alibaba unveils new Qwen3.5 model for agentic AI era” (February 16, 2026) — finance.yahoo.com
- Al Jazeera — “Humanoid robots perform advanced martial arts at Chinese New Year gala” (February 17, 2026) — aljazeera.com
- Futunn / Morgan Stanley — “China’s humanoid robotics industry is developing rapidly” (February 2026) — futunn.com
- CBC News — “China showcases humanoid robots at Spring Festival gala” (February 17, 2026) — cbc.ca
