China's spring festival celebration featured a fleet of dancing robots that flexed the country's advancements in robotics
A group of 16 humanoid robots performed a Chinese folk dance in Beijing ahead of the Lunar New Year.
Humanoid robots are becoming a big focus for tech giants like Elon Musk and Nvidia's Jensen Huang.
China touted its robotics advancements through a fleet of dancing humanoid robots at a festival in Beijing.
Dozens of performers — human and robotic — took to the stage on Tuesday during the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, organized by state media company China Media Group, ahead of the Lunar New Year on Wednesday.
One of the most eye-catching displays was a dance performance in which 16 humanoid robots, decked in festive red jackets, performed alongside their female human partners.
The robots — tall, thin, and black in color — followed a three-minute dance routine during the performance, according to a video of the performance posted by state media outlet CGTN.
Developed by Hangzhou Yushu Technology, also known as Unitree, in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, the robots kept up with the beat of a Chinese folk dance style and danced with red handkerchiefs.
They spun the handkerchiefs in circles, tossed them into the air, and caught them again with precision, drawing applause from the audience.
Other performers in the festival included American pop band OneRepublic, which performed its hit song "Counting Stars" — with no robots in sight.
The units on stage for the spring festival were Unitree's H1 robots, the company told Chinese media outlets.
Unitree has other robotic offerings, including the smaller G1, which it showcased at the 2025 CES.
But the company's also known to have made other machines — including four-legged, doglike robots.
In 2024, these remote-controlled dog robots were seen in footage of a military training exercise conducted by China and Cambodia. The robots, which could be mounted with machine guns, could move forward, jump, and navigate obstacles.
The US military, meanwhile, uses non-weaponized robots from Boston Dynamics, per the company's website.
The humanoid dance display in Beijing comes as these robots are fast becoming a priority for tech's biggest players, like Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and semiconductor giant Nvidia.
Musk showcased his Optimus humanoid robots in October, saying that they would be "the biggest product ever of any kind."
In November, Tesla's Chinese rival, electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng, emerged as a competitor in the humanoid space, unveiling its nearly 6-foot-tall Iron robot.
In 2023, China laid out ambitious plans to mass-produce "advanced level" humanoid robots by 2025.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a document in October 2023 that said that the new robots would "reshape the world."
Nvidia is also betting big on robots.
Speaking at Computex 2024, an annual computer expo in Taipei, CEO Jensen Huang said that there would be two "high-volume" robotic products in the future — self-driving cars and humanoid robots.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trending tickers: latest investor updates on Nvidia, Tesla, SoftBank, C3.ai and Bitmine
Nvidia (NVDA) Nvidia shares dipped in pre-market trading on Monday following reports that the chipmaker has agreed to an unprecedented arrangement to pay the US government 15% of its China-derived revenues in exchange for export licences. The revenue share applies to Nvidia's H20 chips, according to the Financial Times, citing a US official, noting that the Trump administration had yet to determine how to use the money. The chipmakers agreed to the quid pro quo arrangement as a condition for obtaining export licenses for the Chinese market that were granted last week, according to the unnamed official. According to export control experts, no US company has ever agreed to pay a portion of their revenues to obtain export licenses, the newspaper said. Read more: Stocks to watch this week: CoreWeave, Cisco, Aviva, Entain and Persimmon Donald Trump has encouraged firms, and countries, to make investments in the US to, in his words, 'buy down' the tariff rates he imposes. AMD (AMD) has also reportedly agreed to pay 15% of its revenue to the US government, in sales of its MI308 chip. Tesla (TSLA) Shares in Tesla rose in pre-market trading after chief executive Elon Musk said the company would increase its focus on autonomous driving systems, including Full Self-Driving (FSD) and Autopilot. In a post on X, Musk confirmed the disbanding of the entire Dojo supercomputer team. The group had been tasked with developing Tesla's in-house artificial intelligence (AI) chips to support its self-driving technologies and the Optimus humanoid robot. He added that Tesla's AI5 and AI6 chips would assume the role previously held by the Dojo team. 'It doesn't make sense for Tesla to divide its resources and scale two quite different AI chip designs,' Musk said in the post. The company plans to use its AI5 and AI6 chips for both training and inference of its autonomous driving systems, such as FSD and Autopilot. The same chips will also be deployed in Tesla's consumer product line, including the Optimus robot, the Cybercab, and the next-generation Roadster. SoftBank (9984.T) SoftBank has selected several leading investment banks to assist with a potential initial public offering in the United States for PayPay, its Japanese payments app operator, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co, Mizuho Financial Group (MFG), and Morgan Stanley are leading preparations for the listing, the sources said. The PayPay offering may raise more than $2bn (£1.48bn) from investors when it takes place, which the sources said could be as soon as the final quarter of this year. The individuals cautioned that factors including timing and the amount the IPO could raise are subject to market conditions. Read more: UK taxpayers 'subsidising' S&P 500, says LSEG boss The potential listing comes on the heels of a strong earnings report from the Tokyo-based tech conglomerate. Last week, SoftBank revealed it made a net profit of $2.9bn in its first quarter, boosted by its investment in Nvidia (NVDA). It reported net income of ¥422bn ($2.9bn) in its fiscal first quarter ending in June, beating analysts' expectations of closer to ¥128bn, according to LSEG (LSEG.L) data. (AI) Shares in fell by around 20% in pre-market trading after the enterprise AI software company released preliminary fiscal first-quarter results that came in well below expectations. The California-based artificial intelligence software maker forecast revenue of $70.2m to $70.4m for the quarter ended in July, around 33% below the midpoint of its previous guidance range of $100m to $109m. The figure also represents a 19% year-on-year decline. Adjusted operating losses are expected to range between $57.7m and $59.9m, roughly double the $23.5m to $33.5m loss the company had originally projected. 'The good news is we have completely restructured the sales and services organisation... The bad news is that sales results in Q1 were completely unacceptable,' Thomas Siebel, chairman and CEO of said. In July, the company announced that Siebel would step down for health reasons. In a company release, Siebel said he had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that has caused 'significant visual impairment.' DA Davidson downgraded from Neutral to Underperform and reduced its price target to $13.00 from $25.00 following the company's preliminary results announcement. Bitmine (BMNR) Shares in BitMine were up 14% ahead of the US opening bell on Monday, extending Friday's 25% surge, after Ethereum (ETH-USD) crossed the $4,000 threshold for the first time this year. The crypto mining firm has carved out a unique position by amassing and holding more than 833,000 ETH tokens, a stash worth nearly $3bn, making it the largest public holder of Ethereum. As a result, BitMine's share price tends to closely track the price of Ethereum. The latest rally in ETH has once again driven gains in BitMine's stock, with the cryptocurrency's break above $4,000 seen as a significant technical and psychological milestone for investors. Read more: Bitcoin nears record as Treasury investors boost crypto market Because of this, the company's stock tends to move in tandem with Ethereum's price: when ETH rises, BitMine's value typically follows. This close connection was a key driver behind the recent rally. Crossing the $4,000 level is widely regarded as a significant milestone, with many investors expecting Ethereum to climb past $6,000 later this year. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency was trading at $4.278. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolioError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
Stock Market Today: Dow Futures Inch Higher; Nvidia, AMD to Give U.S. Cut on China Chip Sales — Live Updates
Semiconductor stocks are in the spotlight early Monday, following the news that Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration a cut on AI chip sales to China . The Trump administration will receive 15% of the sales as part of a deal to approve exports of Nvidia's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips, according to people familiar with the matter. Investors remain alert for any further news or details of President Trump's trade plans. Trump is yet to unveil his touted levies on pharmaceuticals. Plus, the White House has said Trump will soon issue an executive order clarifying which duties apply to imported gold bars . Stock futures inched higher. U.S. stocks rose last week, despite the flurry of tariff updates. The Nasdaq Composite hit fresh record highs on both Thursday and Friday. Treasury yields and the WSJ Dollar Index edged lower. Yields on 10-year notes fell below 4.27%. European and Asian stocks rose. Japanese markets were shut for a public holiday. Gold prices dropped 2%. Futures fell below $3,430 per troy ounce.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's Tesla applies to supply energy to British households
Elon Musk's Tesla is plotting to enter the British energy market and supply households in the coming months. The company has sought approval for an energy licence from regulator Ofgem in order to take on energy supply giants including British Gas owner Centrica and Octopus Energy. It hopes to start supplying energy to homes and businesses in England, Scotland and Wales as soon as next year. Tesla Energy Ventures applied for the licence last month, according to a new filing published by Ofgem. The application was signed by Andrew Payne, director of the group's energy business in Europe. The electric car manufacturer, run by the world's richest man, also has a solar energy and battery storage business. It comes around two years after Tesla first started hiring for a head of operations to run its proposed energy supply business. Tesla has been involved in the UK energy market since 2020, when it was granted a licence to be an electricity generator. In the US, the group has been an electricity supplier in Texas for the past three years. It comes amid a backdrop of waning demand for Tesla's electric vehicles across Europe in recent months. Industry figures showed an almost 60% plunge in the number of new Tesla registrations in the UK in July, compared with a year earlier. Data showed that 987 new vehicles were registered in the UK in July compared with 2,462 in the same month a year earlier. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
