From "Solo Performance" to "Multi-Champion Showcase" Robot Industry Enters New Era

Reporter Liu Xiaoyi

On the stage of the 2026 Year of the Horse CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the “heat” of robots is unprecedented. Human-shaped robots from four companies—Yushu Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Yushu”), Galaxy General Robots Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Galaxy General”), Magic Atom Robot Technology (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Magic Atom”), and Beijing Songyan Power Technology Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Songyan Power”)—jointly appeared.

From Yushu’s quadruped robot “Benben” first appearing on the Spring Festival Gala stage in 2021, to the 2025 viral phenomenon of “YANGBOT,” and now to the four companies competing on stage together, the Gala has become China’s highest platform for showcasing robotics technology.

“This is not just a display of technical prowess but a strategic positioning battle involving business, capital, and strategy. It’s a further elevation of the potential of humanoid robots,” said a co-founder of a embodied intelligence company in an interview with Securities Daily. Major robot manufacturers are vying for the Spring Festival Gala stage for two main reasons. One is to achieve ultimate brand endorsement and traffic monetization—since the Gala is a national-level event, it can generate hundreds of millions of views and directly boost consumer sales. The other is to secure market positioning—before mass production of similar humanoid robots like Tesla’s Optimus, companies aim to pre-emptively capture consumer awareness and establish a first-mover advantage.

This year, Songyan Power’s four humanoid robots took the stage first, playing the “Grandson Group” in the skit “Grandma’s Favorite,” showcasing the companionship value of robots in home scenarios. This is also the first time humanoid robots appeared in a language program at the Gala. Due to performance space constraints, the team had to solve issues related to precise robot movements and lip-syncing with dialogue. To achieve this, Songyan Power collected children’s movement data for training, equipped the robots’ lips with 12 degrees of freedom, and used self-developed facial expression driving algorithms to synchronize mouth movements with speech accurately.

This is Yushu’s third appearance at the Gala. In the program “WuBOT,” it showcased “human-machine dance” with two humanoid robots, G1 and H2. G1 demonstrated complex martial arts routines like staff and fist techniques, while H2 performed swordsmanship. At the Yiwu sub-venue, it also portrayed the character Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.

Yushu founder Wang Xingxing said that the robots achieved rapid running with complex formations and martial arts movements. This high-dynamic, high-coordination cluster control technology, publicly demonstrated for the first time globally, lays a technical foundation for future robot swarms or single-machine dispatching.

Magic Atom showcased six MagicBot Z1 and two MagicBot Gen1 robots in the “Manufacturing the Future” singing program, performing alongside singers. Their movements and beats were highly synchronized, with stable quick turns, jumps, and continuous choreography. At the Yibin sub-venue, the robots also completed high-difficulty stunts like one-handed handstands and support jumps, demonstrating top-tier motion control.

Galaxy General’s wheeled dual-arm robot G1 appeared in the New Year micro-movie “My Most Unforgettable Night,” partnering with Shen Teng and Ma Li. Through scenes of folding clothes, delivering items, and simple cooking, it demonstrated its application capabilities in household service scenarios.

What are the highlights of this year’s Gala robots compared to previous years? The co-founder of the embodied intelligence companies believes that this performance marks a leap from “technology showcase” to “artistic coexistence,” presenting three new features: full-scene integration, high-dynamic coordination, and emotional interaction. First, the program’s form deeply integrates with the technology, moving beyond simple dance routines to precise positioning based on technological advantages. Second, from “single-machine brilliance” to “multi-strong competition,” the four companies form a differentiated competitive landscape. Third, the “fully autonomous” cluster performance somewhat reduces reliance on external positioning systems, achieving phased autonomous coordination. These robots excel in various technical aspects, with breakthroughs in motion control, cluster coordination and positioning, emotional interaction, and dexterous operation.

The exposure from the Gala has also translated into market momentum. JD.com data shows that within two hours of the Gala broadcast, searches for robot categories increased by over 300% month-on-month, customer inquiries rose by 460%, and orders increased by 150%. The “Gala-style” robots launched at 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve were sold out within minutes.

Looking ahead to 2026, the industry has entered a critical period from technological validation to large-scale mass production. According to Gaogong Robotics Industry Research Institute, domestic humanoid robot shipments are expected to reach 62,500 units in 2026, with leading manufacturers achieving deliveries in the tens of thousands.

As the cost of domestically produced core components drops significantly, embodied intelligence large model technology continues to break through, and commercial applications in industrial scenarios accelerate, Morgan Stanley predicts that China’s humanoid robot industry may replicate the successful path of new energy vehicles, ushering in a market explosion.

(Edited by: Wen Jing)