China’s Kung Fu Robots!
Dancing humanoid robots stole the spotlight Monday at China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, the country’s most-watched TV event. They lunged, spun, backflipped (onto their knees!), and didn’t topple once.
Built by Chinese robotics companies, the bots pulled off kung fu moves, comedy bits, and tightly choreographed dances with human performers, an eye-catching flex of tech muscle.
Tech analyst Kyle Chan of the Brookings Institution said the spectacle helps Beijing “dazzle” audiences at home and abroad with its innovation power.
Still, experts say: don’t panic. Stage tricks aren’t the same as real-world toughness. These robots trained their routines hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Ask them to freestyle? That’s a different story.
Lana Backman
