Unitree Robots Perform at Spring Festival Gala

- The Spring Festival Gala is the world's most-watched television program, recognized by Guinness World Records; the 2026 broadcast recorded 13.5 billion views on new media platforms, offering immense exposure for participants. - This was Unitree's third appearance at the Gala; previous performances included a robotic ox named "Benben" in 2021 and a humanoid robot dance performance called "YangBOT" in 2025, directed by Zhang Yimou. - The G1 humanoid robot featured in the performance stands 1.3 meters tall, weighs approximately 35kg, and is equipped with 3D LiDAR and a depth camera for environmental perception. - The "Cyber Real Kung Fu" performance was the world's first fully autonomous martial arts routine by a cluster of humanoid robots, featuring complex movements like continuous single-leg flips and aerial flips exceeding 3 meters in height. - Unitree develops its robots' skills, like the kung fu movements, in a virtual environment using Nvidia's Isaac Simulator, where a "digital twin" learns from motion capture data before the skills are transferred to the physical robot. - The company was founded in 2016 by Wang Xingxing, who developed his first quadruped robot, "XDog," while a postgraduate student at Shanghai University. - Appearing on the Gala is a significant investment, with stage-performance slots for humanoid robots reportedly costing between 60 million and 100 million yuan ($8.3 million to $13.8 million). - Unitree was one of four major Chinese robotics companies to participate in the 2026 Gala, reflecting a national strategic emphasis on the country's growing robotics industry.