Humanoid robots to grab spotlight in '26

SHANGHAI — China's robots are poised to command the spotlight this Chinese New Year season. Kicking off the festivities, AgiBot deployed over 200 humanoid robots across various models at a trailblazing live gala.

The Sunday night event showcased a diverse lineup ranging from synchronized dances and comedy skits to magic acts and traditional martial arts, signaling a shift by Chinese humanoid robotics firms from purely industrial applications toward consumer entertainment and cultural ventures.

While confirming earlier that it would sit out the massively popular Spring Festival Gala, the Shanghai firm instead unveiled its own meticulously staged production, a bold demonstration of its technological prowess.

AgiBot announced that it had already received cooperation intentions from large-scale song and dance theaters, performance centers and science and technology museums, which plan to purchase the copyright to the entire evening gala for regular performances.

This gambit signaled a broader trend: China's humanoid robotics players are leveraging high-profile cultural exposure to raise their profile as they muscle into the consumer market.

Unitree Robotics, meanwhile, confirmed its third collaboration with the annual Spring Festival Gala, set to be broadcast live to a global audience on Monday night. The robotics firm, based in Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province, made headlines in December when its G1 robots shared the stage with a pop star during a concert, a clip that later earned an emphatic "impressive" endorsement from Elon Musk on social media.

Also included in the 2026 Spring Festival Gala lineup are three more Chinese humanoid robotics firms, namely MagicLab, Noetix Robotics and Galbot. Their presence as official partners is expected to turn a sentiment-drenched celebration, traditionally centered on warm blessings, into a stage for cutting-edge hardware.

This surge in robotic shows during local celebrations and at corporate year-end events has given rise to a promising rental market. AgiBot has entered the space with its newly launched platform, known as Qingtian Rent, rolling out across 50 cities with a fleet of about 1,000 robots ready for deployment.

This April, Beijing will host another humanoid robot half-marathon, following the world's first edition in 2025, which also took place in China's capital.

An industry report has revealed that Chinese robotics firms emerged as the largest producers of humanoid robots worldwide in 2025. AgiBot achieved an annual shipment volume of more than 5,100 units last year, securing a 39 percent share of the global humanoid robot market and ranking first in the world for both shipment volume and market share.

It was followed by Unitree and UBTech, based in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, according to the report released by Omdia, a tech consultancy based in London.

Xinhua - China Daily