China’s most‑watched TV event, the CCTV Spring Festival gala, turned the stage into a showcase for the country’s humanoid robot push. Four startups—Unitree Robotics, Galbot, Noetix, and MagicLab—performed martial‑arts demos, synchronized dances, and comedy skits, drawing a live audience that last year captured 79% of Chinese TV viewers. The performances highlighted China’s ambition to lead in AI‑powered manufacturing for the the.

Unitree’s humanoids executed a “drunken boxing” routine that showcased fault‑recovery and multi‑robot coordination, while Noetix robots joined human actors in a comedy sketch and MagicLab’s units danced to “We Are Made in China.” The gala also featured Alibaba’s AI chatbot Doubao, underscoring the link between robotics and China’s broader AI+ manufacturing strategy for global competitiveness and economic growth in 2026.

China already shipped 90% of the roughly 13,000 humanoid robots worldwide last year, and Morgan Stanley projects sales to double to 28,000 units this year. With Unitree and AgiBot eyeing IPOs, the sector’s visibility has surged, offering companies a direct pipeline from state policy to prime‑time exposure and, ultimately, lucrative government contracts for manufacturing innovation and economic growth in 2026.