The Kung Fu of Machines
Eight things you missed when Unitree's robots performed martial arts for 700 million viewers
Happy Chinese New Year! Today is Dà Nián Chū Yī — the first day of the Year of the Horse — and I wanted to take a moment to send my warmest greetings to all of you. Xīn Nián Kuài Lè!
For those of you outside China, you’ve probably never watched the Chūn Wǎn — the Spring Festival Gala, broadcast live on CCTV every Lunar New Year’s Eve. Think of it as a five-hour variety show watched by roughly 700 million people simultaneously, making it the single most-watched annual television event on the planet. It is tradition, spectacle, and cultural statement all rolled into one. Every year, the whole country watches it together — even those who claim not to care about it end up watching it anyway, if only to complain about it afterward.
This year’s Gala featured one act that had the entire Chinese internet buzzing within minutes of its broadcast. It was called Wu BOT (武BOT) — a martial arts performance in which Unitree Technology’s humanoid robots performed kung fu alongside child martial artists on a glass stage, complete with backflips, weapon-fighting, and a pommel horse routine. If that sounds unreal, here is the full performance:
What follows is a breakdown of why this performance matters far more than its entertainment value suggests. These observations are adapted from an analysis by Zhihu user “Ye Shuo” (也说), which I’ve translated and annotated for this column’s international readers.
1. Brilliant Choreography
First of all, the choreography of the show was excellent.
The use of young child performers cleverly downplayed the non-full-size robots’ smaller stature. The children’s liveliness complemented the robots’ martial arts moves beautifully, creating an atmosphere of youthful vitality and a sense of the future and the next generation.
2. Complex Movements with Live Synchronization
Secondly, beyond the complex movements themselves, the real-time synchronization on stage was done remarkably well.
Take the opening backflip, for example. You can clearly see the robots jumping simultaneously, but due to differences in mid-air balance, they land at different times—some robots have already touched down while others are still airborne.
This requires each robot, in addition to following its prescribed action sequence, to perform independent “real-time posture computation.”
Then, in the very next post-landing movement, robots in various postures are able to “catch up” to the group’s overall rhythm and move in perfect unison.
So during this process, each robot must make at least three judgments:
First, it must ensure the completion of its prescribed movements. Second, it must independently handle its own balance based on its current posture. And finally, it must reference the completion status of the majority of its “companions” during transitional movements, mutually “aligning” with one another to ensure perfect unison at key presentation moments.
Otherwise, some would finish standing first while others would take an extra second or two, resulting in a messy performance.
3. Terrain Adaptability
The third point is terrain adaptability.
This time, the stage was made of glass—extremely slippery. One of the dance performers was barefoot and completing various moves on it.
The robots’ backflips and martial arts movements were executed just as well on the slippery stage, virtually unaffected.
Upon close inspection, every robot was wearing a pair of “non-slip shoes,” demonstrating a highly human-like “swappable accessory adaptation” capability.
4. Martial Arts Moves That Truly Mimic Human Biomechanics
Fourth, many of the martial arts moves genuinely replicate human biomechanical principles.
For moves like the “sweep kick,” when viewed frame by frame, the robot truly achieves balance through a two-point support system of the toe tip and the supporting hand—identical to how humans perform the move—rather than merely using the robot’s mechanical structure to “simulate the visual effect.”
For instance, a robot could keep its foot planted firmly and simply rotate its ankle to produce a visual effect resembling a sweep kick. But that’s not what’s happening here.
5. Shared Compatibility with Human Tools
Fifth, there is the “shared” compatibility with human tools.
Three types of “weapons” appeared in the dance: a staff, nunchucks, and a broadsword—all gripped by the robots’ hands.
These were not “attached” to the hands like a spinning handkerchief; they were genuinely held.
If the robots have multi-degree-of-freedom finger joints, this means they could “share” standard tools with humans across various work scenarios, significantly reducing logistical burdens.
There was some doubt here, as the smaller robots were never seen performing other hand gestures like “open palm.” They kept their fists clenched throughout.
However, the full-size robot held the broadsword in its right hand while its left hand remained extended flat, looking like a “replacement plug-in” with no degrees of freedom.
Update:
Unitree has since released a behind-the-scenes training video, which reveals that the smaller robots’ grip is achieved through high-degree-of-freedom dexterous fingers—not simple clamp fixtures.
This confirms a truly bionic design capable of “sharing tools with humans.”
6. Real-Time Safety Assessment in Human-Robot Collaboration
Sixth, there was real-time safety assessment during human-robot collaboration.
One of our biggest concerns about robots working with humans is their lack of “touch sensitivity”—a single handshake could potentially fracture a human bone.
In one particular sequence, a child performer ran onto the stage from behind. The robot then performed a seemingly “redundant” action: it used its staff to “measure” the distance between itself and the child.
This was because the next move involved performing a martial arts “staff chop” requiring the opponent to dodge.
Since the child performer couldn’t possibly position themselves at the exact right distance from the robot, the robot was using the previous movement to gauge the distance with the “tip of the staff,” ensuring the safety of the next action.
This is a technique frequently used in human martial arts performances—using a weapon to “gauge” the on-site positioning distance to ensure movement safety.
7. Non-Contact Coordination and “Recovery” with Humans
Seventh, there was “non-contact coordination” and “recovery” with human performers.
In one sequence, you can see the robot lowering the tip of its staff to coordinate with a child performer’s “fish leap” (a diving jump).
This movement was not rigidly pre-programmed, because the front-row robot and the back-row robot lowered their staffs to different degrees. The front-row one clearly lowered its staff more and faster, while the back-row one held its staff higher, with almost no downward movement. (You can sense the speed difference from the motion blur.)
This is because the front-row performer’s fish leap went noticeably lower, and his left leg lost balance. The robot was coordinating with him by rapidly lowering the staff tip to prevent an unintended collision.
The back-row performer executed the move better, with both legs tucked up simultaneously, so the robot kept the staff still and the move was completed smoothly.
This kind of “observational coordination under non-standard conditions” is exceptionally rare and valuable. It proves that the robots are not rigidly executing actions, but clearly understand the purpose of each movement—and if something unexpected happens, they know how to “recover.” They even have multiple contingency plans.
From the image above, you can clearly see that the front-row robot lowered its staff tip for “recovery,” causing the front and back robots’ staffs to no longer be at the same parallel angle.
8. Movements Beyond Human Capability
Eighth, the robots performed some movements that are impossible for humans.
The robots also displayed some “anti-human-joint” movements, such as the left wrist pressing downward while holding the staff.
Another example is the “reverse wrist support” during the pommel horse sequence.
Of course, this pommel horse sequence remained the most dazzling highlight of the entire performance, leaving viewers absolutely bedazzled.
If this was achieved through shared visual data from companion robots in real time, that would be remarkable. Of course, the simpler answer might be rear-mounted cameras. But either way, it still exceeds human capabilities.
In Summary
The technology showcased this time truly makes one feel that the “Age of Robots” is really upon us.
While watching at home, my wife kept asking, “Could those be children in costume?”—which left me both amused and exasperated.
Judging solely by current technology, in terms of limb agility and coordination alone, humanoid robots have already surpassed the majority of humans.