I just finished watching the Spring Festival Gala robot performance video, to be honest, this time’s show scale and difficulty have exceeded my expectations. A row of humanoid robots and Ta Gou Wushu school students sparring, with synchronized movements throughout, front flips, back flips, 360-degree aerial spins, landing steadily—if I didn’t know there were robots involved, I would really think they are all real people.

The underlying technological logic behind this is actually more worth paying attention to. The robots at the Gala are equipped with 360-degree panoramic depth vision and force sensors, capable of capturing real-time movements on stage, rhythm, and even sudden changes in music, then autonomously adjusting their movement amplitude and force timing. This is no longer simple pre-programmed actions, but real-time decision-making—within tens of milliseconds of leaping into the air, the robots must predict their body posture, center of gravity changes, and ground reaction forces.

More critically, these robots achieve “simultaneous reasoning and action.” Before executing a move, they simulate the consequences in a virtual “mind,” selecting the optimal solution. This is akin to giving the robots “thinking and anticipation” capabilities—not just reflexes, but decisions based on an understanding of physical laws. Coupled with the coordination of over twenty robots, completing complex formations at high speed, with motion errors controlled within milliseconds—this demonstrates the stability of the entire control system.

At this point, you might also be thinking: what if these Spring Festival Gala robots appeared on the battlefield? Nearly two meters tall, agile, no need for rest, fearless, capable of completing tasks that are difficult for human soldiers in extreme environments. They could perform reconnaissance, mine clearance, transportation, and other dangerous missions, even equipped with weapon systems to become “steel warriors.” Robots can directly carry rocket launchers for assaults—something that quadruped robots or other four-legged designs cannot do—the humanoid structure can fully replace humans in high-risk, high-difficulty tasks.

Tasks like bomb disposal, reconnaissance of nuclear, biological, and chemical contaminated zones, which pose extreme threats to human soldiers’ safety, are well-suited for humanoid robots because of their special structure that allows flexible traversal of complex terrains and deep penetration into dangerous areas. When combined with other unmanned systems for coordinated operations, sharing data and supporting decision-making, battlefield efficiency will be greatly improved. Traditional warfare relies on the number of soldiers and equipment quality, but future wars may depend more on robot technology and artificial intelligence.

The U.S. military is indeed worried about this. They have long relied on powerful military strength to maintain global strategic deterrence, but with China’s breakthroughs in robot technology, this deterrence could be weakened. China’s humanoid robots can perform tasks in extreme environments, making it difficult for the U.S.’s traditional military power to respond.

The biggest reason for America’s failure is actually choosing the wrong technological path. Regarding hydraulic versus electric motors, the U.S. chose the hydraulic route, which resulted in prominent noise issues and high maintenance difficulty for their robot dogs. Later switching to batteries, they faced problems like short endurance and high costs. The U.S. military’s Q-UGV small robot dog has a maximum range of less than 12 kilometers, and carrying heavier loads further increases energy consumption. In comparison, China’s robot dogs cost only about $3,000, which is why they have become standard equipment for the PLA. The U.S. even procures Chinese robot dogs for modification and use, because Chinese products are more intelligent and reliable.

The collective appearance of the Gala robots marks that China has already achieved a generational leap from “humanoid mechanical actuators” to “embodied intelligent agents.” This is not just a technological victory but a comprehensive surpassing in engineering and industrialization pathways. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, sensor technology, materials science, and other fields have laid a solid foundation for the development of humanoid robots.

For countries around the world, how to balance technological progress with ethical safety will be a long-term challenge. For the U.S. military, how to respond to this new type of threat has become an important part of future military strategy. “The future is here, just not widely adopted yet”—the rise of Gala robots may be the best interpretation of this phrase.