Humanoid robots have undoubtedly taken center stage at this year's CMG Spring Festival Gala – the world's most-watched TV show in celebration of the Chinese New Year. For the robotics industry, this isn't just a performance. It is a high-stakes product launch to billions of viewers.

This year, four Chinese powerhouse startups, including Unitree, MagicLab, Galbot, and Noetix, brought their most advanced humanoids to the stage. Their performances spanned the spectrum of human life – from high-octane martial arts and rhythmic dancing to sketch comedy and daily life scenarios.

The ultimate test

The live-stream nature of the Gala makes it the ultimate "stress test" for robotics. On a stage filled with moving props, hundreds of dancers and unpredictable lighting, there is no "reset" button.

For this challenge, robots once again wowed the world with high-precision coordination and supreme stability – demonstrating well balanced landings after running, kicking, and jumping from springboards. It is a staggering leap from last year, when their H1 robots finished a "Handkerchief Dance" with cautious movements and required human assistance just to exit the stage.

This shift is an evident proof that the industry has moved from pre-programmed "puppets" to autonomous machines powered by robust stability algorithms. 

"Locomotion is a fundamental prerequisite for robots. They must first master physical mobility before they can be put to work," the founder of Unitree Wang Xingxing said in an interview with China Media Group (CMG). "By doing so, they will drive the progress of human productivity as a whole." 

A journey through time

The presence of robots on this stage is not new – but the intention behind them has evolved. The story of the "Gala Robot" can be traced through three distinct eras.

In 2016, Shenzhen-based UBTECH made its debut with 540 "Alpha" small humanoid robots. As a collective, they were impressive; individually, however, their movements were limited to basic synchronized routines.

In the Year of the Ox (2021), Unitree's quadruped "Benben" stole the show. Robots were still seen as high-tech "pets" or mascots.

And then the year 2025 marked a milestone with Unitree's G1's handkerchief tossing that kicked off a series of events, including the world's first half marathon for humanoid robots and the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. 

By this year's Gala, the stage became unprecedentedly crowded with four distinct companies vying for position.

Fast forward to today, and UBTECH has grown from a startup into the "first stock of humanoid robots," after listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in late 2023. By 2026, they have moved beyond the stage and into the factory, initiating large-scale industrial trials with partners like Airbus and BYD, where their Walker S series robots perform real-world tasks like quality inspection and material handling.

Similarly, Noetix has transitioned from an underdog to a major player. After taking second place in the 2025 Beijing Humanoid Half-Marathon (where their N2 robot proved its endurance over 21 kilometers), they used the Gala to showcase robots that aren't just athletic, but "socially aware" for daily life scenarios.

This explosion isn't accidental. It is a direct result of China's humanoid industrial clusters, which have successfully transformed the infrastructure of the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry into robotics. From high-torque servo motors to sensors, the entire Bill of Materials (BoM) for a humanoid can be sourced within a few hours' drive. 

This cluster effect has allowed UBTECH and Unitree to target production costs below $20,000, effectively "EV-ifying" robotics by driving down prices through scale before the competition can even finalize their designs.

Despite this manufacturing blitz, Chinese companies remain acutely aware of the challenges from abroad. While China wins on scale and speed, the Western narrative, led by Tesla's Optimus and Boston Dynamics, remains focused on "General Purpose Intelligence." Developing a robot that doesn't just perform a task, but understands a complex, unscripted environment, remains the hardest and most important frontier in global robotics.

From CMG's Spring Festival Gala to the future of coexistence

CMG's Spring Festival Gala has become more than a technical display. For the first time, robots weren't just guest performers. Rather, they were integral to the Chinese narrative of Tuanyuan, or reunion.

In the sketch comedy, Noetix's "Bumi" robot navigated the nuances of a family skit, using humor to bridge the gap between machine and companion. In the short film, the robot was shown performing chores in a real-world home.

"Ultimately, technology is meant to serve people, not just exist for the sake of the technology itself," Wang added. 

This year also signaled a pivot from prototypes to the marketplace. As Noetix CMO Zhang Miao explained to the press, if 2025 was about the race to mass-produce, 2026 is about the race to deliver. 

"The focus has moved from the factory floor to the commercial channel, where the real measure of a company's health is no longer how many robots it can build, but how many it can successfully integrate into real-world scenarios," Zhang said.

A new era of robotics is now taking shape – and it is firmly rooted in China.