China’s dancing robots: how worried should we be?

Dancing humanoid robots took centre stage on Monday during the annual China-media-group" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="28690" data-entity-type="organization">China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched official television broadcast. They lunged and backflipped (landing on their knees), they spun around and jumped. Not one fell over.The display was impressive, but prompted some to wonder: if robots can now dance and perform martial arts, what else can they do?Experts have mixed opinions, with some saying the robots had limitations and that the display should be viewed through a lens of state propaganda.Developed by several Chinese robotics firms, the robots performed a range of intricate stunts, including kung fu, comedy sketches and choreographed dance moves alongside human performers.Clips circulating online quickly drew comparisons with last year’s lunar new year broadcast, which also featured dancing robots but with noticeably simpler movements.The performance showed China’s push to develop more advanced robots powered by improved AI capabilities. Photograph: CCTV Video News Agency/YoutubeKyle Chan, an expert in China’s technology development at Brookings Institution, a policy organisation in Washington DC, said Beijing uses these public robot performances to “dazzle domestic and international audiences with China’s technological prowess”.“Unlike AI models or industrial equipment, humanoid robots are highly visible examples of China’s technological leadership that general audiences can see on their phones or televisions,” he said.Pointing to intensifying competition in the tech space between China and the US, Chan added: “While China and the US are neck-and-neck on AI, humanoid robots are an area where China can claim to be ahead of the US, particularly in terms of scaling up production.”Georg Stieler, the head of robotics and automation at the global technology consulting firm Stieler Technology and Marketing, also emphasised the symbolism of China’s prime time broadcast.“What distinguishes the gala from comparable events elsewhere is the directness of the pipeline from industrial policy to prime-time spectacle,” Stieler said in a statement.Comparing this year’s performances with last year’s – when viewers saw “fundamentally a single choreographic mode” with limited motions including walking, twisting and kicking – Stieler said one key signal of China’s robot progress is “the ability to run large numbers of near-identical humanoids in synchronised motion with stable gaits and consistent joint behaviour”.But Stieler also noted: “Stage performance does not equate to industrial robustness, yet.” He said what the robots did was the result of being trained for a routine “hundreds or thousands of times – you could not just tell them to change direction or do something completely different”.“These dance motions involve very little environmental perception and are essentially imitation learning plus a balance-keeping controller. That has little bearing on reliability in unstructured environments, a prerequisite for factory-grade deployment. Also the progress in dexterity is not as fast as in locomotion,” he added.The unveiling of China’s latest generation of robots underscores the country’s broader technological ambitions.By the end of 2024, China had registered 451,700 smart robotics companies, with a total capital of 6.44tn yuan (approximately $932.16bn), according to state data. Major government projects such as Made in China 2025 and the 14th Five-Year Plan, have made robotics and AI key Beijing priorities.Morgan Stanley projects that China’s humanoid sales will more than double to 28,000 units in 2026; and Elon Musk has said he expects his biggest competitor to be Chinese companies as he pivots Tesla toward a focus on embodied AI and its flagship humanoid Optimus. “People outside China underestimate China, but China is an ass-kicker next level,” Musk said last month.Marina Zhang, a technology professor at the University of Technology Sydney, said that such a visible showcase likely hints at a new phase in China’s manufacturing masterplan, “where robotics becomes a linchpin in the shift from low-cost assembly to high-end, smart manufacturing”.With Reuters