Martial Arts Robots! China's Spring Festival Gala delivers Jaw-Dropping Performance

Talk about Kaylon’s Got Talent… This is dazzling stuff - a host of humanoid robots performing martial arts with youthful human partners.  Yet these performers are not from Isaac’s homeworld: this is China.  When people remark that this is going to be the “Chinese Century”, it’s difficult to disbelieve them when you watch a show like this.  This year’s Spring Festival Gala from Beijing (broadcast by the China Global Television Network) saw humanoid robots join forces with Young Fu artists to deliver a jaw-dropping martial arts performance (see below).  It has, naturally, very quickly gone viral since the gala aired on 16 February.

These robots, child-size and so perfectly matched against their pre-teen opponents, moved in perfect synchronisation with the performers (with only the occasional slight wobble). They executed precise martial arts routines that blended centuries-old traditions with cutting-edge robotics.  Plus, the kids seem to be having a lot of fun, too (and no Kaylon-style revolution either, although that might have been interesting to watch).  

Yes, this might count as a form of soft propaganda, but flipping heck, I love it.  The robots were developed by Unitree Robotics, based in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province (and not owned by the Chinese government, as it happens). As technology becomes embedded into national celebrations like these, I wonder what we in the West can come up with to compete with this (or perhaps we don't have to?).   Answers on a postcard, please...

Now you have seen the illusion, as it were, take a look at the bigger picture.  The video belows goes into the details behind the Unitree Robotics spectcacular performance.  I have to admit to a nagging worry about these robots being weaponized, but perhaps I have been watching The Orville (and other movies and shows) too much.  Yet my blood did run ever so slightly cold when the taller robot came out towards the end of the performance, jian sword in hand. Time will tell, but I am quite happy that my last name isn't Connor right now. Sorry for mixing my sci-fi metaphors.