What are the Spring Festival Gala robots rushing to "compete" for?

Technology has become the most prominent backdrop of the Spring Festival Gala.

In the 2026 Year of the Horse Spring Festival Gala, four robotics companies performed together, setting a historical record. Also appearing were Volcano Engine, Doubao, and drones.

Once again, a lively Gala is underway. Even before the event ends, various jokes are already circulating online.

Someone captured the lyrics subtitles of “Creating the Future,” reading line by line: Beidou Satellite Navigation, thousand-mile endurance, drones blooming, chip-driven engines, smartphone wake-up smart assistants, interactive watches monitoring heartbeat, VR glasses visual storms.

The caption only said: “This isn’t the Spring Festival Gala, this is a rotation of themes.”

In the comment section, someone replied that in Cai Ming’s skit, the “220V blessing” with the company name hanging below was so awkward that they were “tugging at their toes on the ground.”

Others said they watched for a long time and couldn’t tell if they were watching a show or a business promotion.

The “tongue-in-cheek” topics about capital markets are actually at the forefront of technological innovation. Many tech companies that appeared on the Gala stage are less than one-eighth the age of the Gala itself. They have strong founding teams and initial market-ready products. However, most young tech companies’ products have not yet stepped out of the “tech circle” and haven’t reached the mainstream market.

As a national-level New Year’s Eve feast, too many tech companies hope to break out of their niche through this platform and reach truly nationwide applications. All the participating companies are doing their best to meet this national-level challenge.

The spotlight is on the four robotics companies performing together.

01 “1 Billion Yuan” Entry Ticket, Four Different Descriptions

According to publicly available media reports, Zhiyuan Robotics initially bid 60 million yuan for a spot at the Gala, while Yushu directly offered 100 million yuan. Zhiyuan denied this, and Yushu did not respond. Zhiyuan eventually withdrew and held its own robot-themed event—“Robot Wonderful Night.”

Galaxy General, Magic Atom, and Songyan Power also joined in succession, completing official announcements within a week.

Media reports indicate that the cooperation amounts for these four robotics companies at the Gala reached 100 million yuan each, with different titles assigned. Galaxy General is “Designated Embodied Large Model Robot,” Yushu is “Robot Partner,” Magic Atom is “Strategic Partner for Intelligent Robots,” and Songyan Power is “Humanoid Robot Partner.”

Each description corresponds to completely different technological and business routes.

Galaxy General chose the “most adventurous” path.

Its robot “Xiao Gai” appeared in Shen Teng and Ma Li’s New Year microfilm “Unforgettable Tonight,” performing alongside human actors.

According to the project team, “Xiao Gai” demonstrated five actions in about five minutes: nut cracking, glass shard picking, folding clothes, sausage roasting, and retail shelf retrieval. It looks simple, but industry insiders say, “Such highly detailed, non-standard shape picking and handling of soft objects is among the most difficult tasks for robots.”

Galaxy General states these actions are not pre-programmed but driven entirely by embodied large models end-to-end, relying 100% on the robot “Xiao Gai” to perform autonomously on site. This means, in a zero-tolerance live environment, Galaxy General has deployed a “self-thinking” robot.

The robot is powered by “Galaxy Brain AstraBrain,” which integrates brain, cerebellum, and neural control. The training approach emphasizes the route Galaxy General has always advocated: few-shot human demonstrations, massive virtual simulations, billions of trial-and-error reinforcement learning, and minimal real-world data fine-tuning.

“Spring Festival Gala preparations only had three months, and there’s zero tolerance for errors. The stage lighting is dazzling, changing rapidly, which puts high demands on the robot’s visual perception,” said an engineer from Galaxy General.

Galaxy General’s robot uses a wheeled chassis with foldable legs. On the Gala stage, it doesn’t look as “handsome” as Yushu’s, but Galaxy General emphasizes another point: what the audience sees is the robot “working.”

The program with Shen Teng and Ma Li, featuring this robot, seems like a custom short film designed specifically for it. The plot appears to revolve around Shen Teng, but ultimately, it perfectly showcases Galaxy General’s robot capabilities.

Before stepping onto the Gala stage, Galaxy General’s robots have been scaled across multiple fields. In industrial manufacturing, they have deep collaborations with companies like CATL and Toyota, with thousands of units ordered. The newly released heavy-duty model S1 surpasses the 100-kilogram load limit, targeting the niche of intelligent heavy labor; in retail and warehousing, Galaxy General has deployed hundreds of robots operating 24/7 for autonomous sales and warehouse management.

Recently, Galaxy General completed a financing round of 2.1 billion yuan, with an estimated valuation of about 21 billion yuan.

For a startup of this scale, achieving nationwide recognition is a necessary path, and the Gala is the fastest and best way to reach the masses.

“Old-timer” Yushu Technology is in a different state.

From the robot bull “Benben” in the 2021 Year of the Ox Gala, to the viral “YangBOT” in the 2025 Year of the Snake Gala, and now the martial arts program “WuBOT.” Three years, three appearances on the Gala stage, Yushu has established a certain tacit understanding with this platform.

This year’s “WuBOT,” jointly presented by Yushu Technology and Henan Tagou Martial Arts School, features G1 and H2 humanoid robots competing alongside real martial artists. G1 demonstrates complex routines like staff, fist, sword, and drunken boxing; H2 performs swordsmanship.

The tall H2 appears like the “Yao Ming” of martial arts, standing out and pushing the program to a small climax.

From Yangge to martial arts, Yushu is delving deeper into motion control. In February 2025, it simulated Chen-style Tai Chi’s silk reeling energy through joint torque control, attempting to let robots understand the strength and rhythm of Chinese martial arts.

Yushu founder Wang Xingxing said that this year, robots completed complex martial arts movements during high-speed running, including changing formations and martial arts routines. This high-dynamic, high-coordination swarm control technology is a world first. “This move is very practical and lays the groundwork for future robot swarm or single-unit scheduling in other scenarios.”

This year, Yushu’s robots appeared in 12 major galas, concerts, and events, and it held seven dedicated robot competitions. It no longer needs the Gala to “break out.”

But Yushu still came.

The commercial returns after last year’s Gala are tangible: Series C funding valuation of 12 billion yuan, a 220% increase in orders, over 5,500 humanoid robots shipped worldwide, making it the global leader. It is now rushing toward an IPO.

This demonstrative effect is evident, and industry peers are watching. If Yushu doesn’t participate, others will, and the “China’s No.1 Robot Brand” perception could weaken. So Yushu’s anxiety is: “Everyone else is in, I can’t be left out.”

The most discussed is Songyan Power’s robots.

First, Cai Ming plays a robot again after 30 years; second, a robot with a “stretched neck” that looks taller has become a viral meme.

Songyan Power’s lineup includes a Bumi Xiaobumi, two N2s, a modified E1, and a bionic humanoid robot that replicates an actor’s appearance, performing with Cai Ming and Wang Tianfang in the skit “Grandma’s Favorite.” The main theme revolves around “real vs. fake grandson.” The robots perform continuous flips and side somersaults, and also coordinate with actors for expressions and interactions.

27-year-old founder Jiang Zheyuan, for this “big show” at the Gala, has given multiple media interviews. In one, he admitted, “On the night before the third rehearsal, at 4 a.m., he was still at his computer tweaking low-level control code just to make the N2 robot’s side flip more stable. During the first rehearsal, the robot’s performance was still rough, and the team was nervously watching every move.”

Founded in September 2023, Jiang Zheyuan dropped out of Tsinghua Ph.D. studies to start his company, which has raised six rounds of funding and is valued at over 2 billion yuan. But in this industry, a valuation of over 2 billion is just an entry ticket.

For Songyan Power, this Gala ticket might be more significant than for anyone else.

Jiang Zheyuan said in an interview, “The Gala is like a poker table; being able to sit at the table means you can truly stay in this industry’s top tier in the future.”

Magic Atom is the most aggressive.

It operates both at the main venue and the Yibin sub-venue. In the song “Creating the Future,” six MagicBot Z1s and two Gen1s performed alongside Yi Yangqianxi, Chen Xiaochun, Yan Chengxu, and Luo Jiahao. Z1 also completed Thomas spins and 360° kicks at the sub-venue. In Yibin, over a hundred MagicDogs dressed as pandas appeared collectively, running, tilting heads, and waving paws—marking the world’s first large-scale bionic group control performance.

The most impressive scene was on the streets of Yibin: Gen1 transformed into a “noodle puller,” completing dough kneading, water control, dough pouring, and wine pouring; Z1 acted as a “delivery person” delivering spicy noodles. This was the first time robots performed real-world tasks on the Gala stage.

The technical challenge of a hundred pandas is far beyond simply “dressing up a robot dog.” The panda outer shell changed the center of gravity, requiring re-calibration of the dynamics model. During continuous running, joint modules faced overheating risks, and the outer shell’s structure compressed cooling space. The team managed this with current management and power control. Synchronizing over a hundred robots at millisecond precision relied on unified code dispatch and individual decoding execution.

Magic Atom was founded in January 2024 and is the youngest among the four.

Co-founder Gu Shitao publicly announced on the same day as the Gala cooperation that they are “pushing for an IPO as fast as possible.” The urgency is almost palpable.

02 The devilish test of live Gala broadcast for robots

“If this year’s Gala fails, Songyan Power might be in serious trouble. That’s a real concern,” said Jiang Zheyuan in a media interview.

National-level exposure also means national-level pressure, often described as a “zero-tolerance” environment in the industry.

Stage lighting during performances changes dramatically—from warm to cool colors, from spotlights to strobe effects—heavily relying on visual positioning, which can severely interfere with robots. Smoke effects can create false obstacles for laser radars. Stage heat can exceed 40°C, threatening batteries and motors. Dense wireless signals can cause electromagnetic interference, risking control signal loss.

Robot teams usually rehearse for 1.5 to 3 months, but their process differs entirely from human rehearsals.

Humans rehearse to “remember,” robots rehearse to “debug.” Theoretically, a robot can load all action data in one second, but the real work is in discovering and fixing issues in real environments.

The initial 4-6 weeks are for environment modeling—precise measurement of ground materials, friction, temperature curves, lighting timing—running all actions in a digital twin environment first. Midway, 3-4 weeks of on-site debugging, comparing simulation and reality frame by frame. Final 2-3 weeks involve full integration, coordinating with actors, lighting, sound, and camera angles.

“Three months of preparation is an almost impossible pace,” said a member of a participating robot team.

In 2026, there will be five rehearsals, with the fifth simultaneously recording the pre-broadcast tape. Safety requires the control to be takeover-ready within 0.5 seconds. CCTV is very particular about visual aesthetics—robot joint gaps in 4K footage, reflections under different lighting angles—all need repeated polishing.

Fortunately, all four robot companies successfully completed their performances.

But audience reactions are divided. “WuBOT” has the most stable reputation because Yushu has built audience expectations over three years; martial arts are more exciting than Yangge, and the performance quality is high. Galaxy General and Shen Teng’s microfilm made many realize robots can “work,” with nimble nut-cracking hands widely shared on social media, though some criticized it as too “customized.” The lyrics of “Creating the Future” were mocked as an “A-share theme rotation song,” and Cai Ming’s skit was also criticized for giving a “uncanny valley” effect during the holiday.

The intense advertising feel from the dense lineup of tech companies is the biggest controversy. This year, not only robots but also Beidou Navigation, VR glasses, smartwatches, and chips were showcased, almost cycling through China’s hottest tech tracks.

Audience reactions are straightforward: are we watching a show or a business promotion?

For the Gala, it also bears two more critical missions: to bring these cutting-edge technologies into the public consciousness; to showcase China’s manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing strength.

But for the four robotics companies, audience criticism might not be their biggest concern—after all, discussion fuels attention.

03 Running against Elon Musk, beyond national popularity—“anxiety”

The real anxiety lies outside the Gala. Jiang Lei, chief scientist of the Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, believes 2026 will be a watershed year. About 80% of domestic complete machine companies are still in research stages, not yet mass-producing.

For those with initial production capacity, the next step is to find real “work” scenarios. “Dancing” and “performing” have become important commercialized scenarios for robots. Yushu has paved this path.

However, humanoid robots urgently need to find more scenarios—enter factories, daily life, and homes.

The four companies—Galaxy General valued over $3 billion (about 21 billion yuan), Yushu at 12 billion yuan, Magic Atom at 3.5 billion yuan, Songyan Power over 2 billion yuan—these few minutes on the Gala stage will also spark the capital market’s imagination.

2026 is seen as the “上市元年” (first year of listing) for embodied intelligence, also a limited window:

Externally, Tesla’s heavy pressure looms. Optimus plans to start mass production of hundreds of thousands of units by late 2026, with costs driven very low. Startups that cannot prepare for IPO before Tesla dominates the market will struggle to survive in the cost war.

Internally, industry cycles are pushing forward. 2026 marks the transition from “1 to 10” validation to “10 to 100” scale, with robots entering real production lines. Heavy asset expansion requires massive capital to support supply chains and manufacturing; relying solely on primary market financing is insufficient.

Additionally, policy windows are opening, with markets like Hong Kong Exchange lowering listing thresholds for unprofitable tech firms, making 2026 a good opportunity to build barriers.

The returns from the Gala for Yushu are obvious, but in 2026, four companies betting on the same stage—how much will the returns be diluted? No one knows. But no one dares not to participate.

Jiang Zheyuan says he has been living with pressure and constantly upgrading.

This statement could apply to the entire industry.

After the spotlight dims, robots will move from the Gala stage into factories, hospitals, and community corners. No applause, no trending topics—only orders and KPIs.

That will be the real test of 2026.

Source: Tencent Technology

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