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Human-like robots have participated in the planet’s inaugural completely self-governed martial arts presentation to commemorate the Lunar New Year. Inside newly released recordings from the 2026 Spring Festival Gala within Beijing, Unitree Robotics’ G1 and H2 machines are seen executing intricate acrobatics and employing weaponry.
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An illustration highlighting one of the humanoid kung-fu robots crafted by Unitree Robotics.
The robots’ performance indicates a substantial enhancement upon demonstrations at an equivalent gathering during 2025, wherein the automatons appeared inflexible and uncoordinated, presenting awkward shifts amid distinct routines.
Firm representatives indicated that the advancements stem from artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements coupled alongside fresh lidar (light detection and ranging) handling, along with physical improvements regarding the robots themselves. Those characterize an advancement throughout the discipline regarding embodied AI, where academics endeavor to present robots tools intended for enhanced interpretation and navigation regarding the material realm.
The year belonging to the fire horse
“This presentation obtains its motivation originating from a homage honoring classical Chinese martial arts,” Unitree representatives stated inside a technical blog posting. “This concept centers on combining this martial arts ethos alongside contemporary technology, employing robotic performances to present the potency together with elegance of Wushu [this Chinese word pertaining to martial arts] whilst delivering a message regarding cultural heritage and evolution. This endeavors to showcase Chinese Kung Fu culture alongside technological advancement throughout the world.”
Company engineers had been prepping for the performance ever since November 2025. Scientists pretrained a stunt-motion model employing considerable educational data originating from an assortment of stunts, which afterwards enhanced the standard regarding fine-tuning to obtain the robots at full speed.
They similarly improved the cluster supervision platform — a mechanism intended for synchronizing dozens of robots concurrently that entails network communication, distinct operating systems, embedded instruments and software engineering components. That permitted end-to-end automation, originating from AI-planned choreography preparation towards real-time multirobot synchronization, featuring millisecond-level synchronization.
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Regarding robotic motion, the engineers guaranteed that the robots could traverse their milieu, which concerned a lidar-based localization algorithm which might enhance precisely how accurately they placed themselves. Another pretrained high-speed-movement pattern subsequently ensured they might monitor their objective positions reliably together with swiftly and accomplish the preferred movement utilizing human-like gaits.
The machines’ blueprint similarly contributed a role throughout the improvements. These engineers improved the motors to improve peak performance and then configured those to conform to those fresh movements. Examples regarding precise enhancements involve increased power density pertaining to core joint motors, optimized limb sturdiness, and much more adept hands.
Although the martial arts display occurred primarily for entertainment, firm representatives stated that the actions and motions display real-world efficacy. For instance, the cluster supervision platform might constitute a crucial phase throughout empowering multiple robots to synchronize throughout a variety of settings devoid of human intervention.
TOPICSChina
Keumars Afifi-SabetChannel Editor, Technology
Keumars is the technology editor at Live Science. He has written for a variety of publications including ITPro, The Week Digital, ComputerActive, The Independent, The Observer, Metro and TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a technology journalist for more than five years, having previously held the role of features editor with ITPro. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist and has a degree in biomedical sciences from Queen Mary, University of London. He’s also registered as a foundational chartered manager with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), having qualified as a Level 3 Team leader with distinction in 2023.
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