A Yangge folk dance performed by robots during the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Snake has impressed users of some overseas social media, as the performance, using an innovative approach, blended cultural heritage with cutting-edge technology. In the performance directed by renowned Chinese Director Zhang Yimou, 16 robots produced by Chinese robotics company Unitree, dressed in northeastern Chinese style floral padded jackets, performed together with dancers from China's Xinjiang Art Institute. The humanoid robots not only smoothly twisted their waists and mimicked human leg-kicking movements, but also spinned handkerchiefs, displaying extremely dexterous actions.
“Honestly the full thing is actually quite impressive,” one netizen said on Reddit. “Watched the full dance and the way the robot spins those handkerchiefs is really impressive,” another one posted. “I actually think it's kind of cool. The more you integrate technology into life, the easier it is to get people to embrace it,” another one said. “They were dancing so well! The handkerchief hand could spin, throw out and returned to its position accurately! AI and robotics are in the next level now. Fasten your seat belt and don't get behind!” an X user said. “The West is looking at how China keeps showcasing the rapid development in various fields, previously DeepSeek, now they are showcasing an event that exposes the togetherness between robots and humans,” another X user said. “While Elon Musk's Optimus robot walks like an elderly person following a hip surgery, China's humanoid robots danced like spring chickens at China's Spring Festival Gala,” another netizen posted on X.
Those performing on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala were Unitree H1 humanoid robots. The company told the Global Times that the robots use AI-driven full-body motion control technology. Coupled with 360° panoramic depth perception, they can precisely grasp every movement in their surroundings. Moreover, through advanced AI algorithms, they can perfectly “understand” music, adjusting movements in real-time according to the music. The high-precision 3D laser SLAM positioning and navigation technology also enables the robots to accurately find their location even in complex stage environments, the company noted. Unitree said they named this model of robots “Fuxi,” a homophone for a mythical ancestor of the Chinese nation, symbolizing the beautiful blessings brought by technology, the Global Times reports.
The South China Morning Post adds that the Lunar New Year eve broadcast saw 16 H1 robots, all decked in floral red-and-white cheongsam vests, join a troupe of human dancers in a tightly choreographed performance of Chinese folk dance Yangge, kicking off a hi-tech celebration of the Year of the Snake. The tech infrastructure provided by the cloud computing services and artificial intelligence (AI) arm of Alibaba Group Holding enabled the H1 robots to process high-frequency spatial data in real time, allowing them to recognize where they are and coordinate their movements. Unitree’s AI algorithm empowered the robots to “understand” the music they were dancing to and execute humanlike terpsichorean movements, according to the Hangzhou-based company, formally known as Yushu Technology. The humanoid robots displayed their abilities to walk, run and jump on stage, delighting the show’s vast audience.
The performance marked the world’s “first large-scale, fully AI-driven and fully automated cluster humanoid robot performance in history – a perfect collaboration of technology and traditional culture”, Unitree said in a statement. This spring, dozens of humanoid robots from more than 20 companies are expected to join some 12,000 humans in the world’s first human-robot marathon to be held in Beijing’s Daxing district in April. As of 2023, there were nearly 80,000 robotics companies in China, of which more than 100 were listed, according to a Xinhua report, which cited data from CCID’s Consulting Advanced Manufacturing Research Center.
