A viral performance by a troupe of Unitree G1 robots is one of the clearest demonstrations yet of where humanoids can deliver immediate value: entertainment.
Who is Wang Leehom?
Chinese-American popstar Wang Leehom featured six of the compact humanoids as backup dancers during his Dec. 19 concert in Chengdu. Leehom is touring the mainland with his large-scale comeback concert series. Often called the King of Chinese Pop, the 49-year-old singer previously featured robots like Sophia by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics and UBTECH’s Alpha, in this 2017 for the song “AI Love.”
For an audience of about 18,000, the robots ended the performance with synchronized flips. It perfectly illustrated the near-term reality that Unitree is leaning into. Precision timing, repeatable motions, physical coordination, and visual novelty are already areas where humanoids surpass expectations.
Elon Musk Reacts
Viral clips of the spectacle spread rapidly across Chinese and Western social media. It even captured the attention of Elon Musk, who called the performance “impressive” on his X social media platform.
The appearance comes amid growing debate about the usefulness of Chinese humanoids like the G1. The People’s Republic is two years into its national mission to mass produce dominate the humanoid market by 2027. It’s already easily surpassed its initial goal of manufacturing 10,000 humanoids by the end of 2025. Heading into 2026, the sector is adjusting as the country’s top economic planner has warned of a potential bubble if robotics firms keep churning out similar designs.
iRobot Founder’s Doubts
Rodney Brooks, the MIT roboticist who co-founded iRobot recently delivered a blunt critique of today’s humanoid boom, calling Elon Musk’s vision of humanoid robot assistants “pure fantasy thinking.” He argued that, despite billions poured into R&D, modern humanoids still are not particularly useful anywhere. The co-founder left the Roomba maker in 2008, long before it went bankrupt, and also founded Rethink Robotics, a defunct Boston firm that’s often cited as a cautionary parallel to today’s humanoid frenzy.
Rethink introduced Baxter in 2012, promising a safe, affordable collaborative robot that’s easy to train for factory tasks. In reality, it was slow, limited in precision, and lacked the reliability and flexibility manufacturers actually needed at scale. While it did find niche uses, Baxter never became the versatile factory assistant Rethink marketed it as. The company shut down in 2018.
Moravec’s Paradox
The gap between ambitious vision and real-world utility now hangs over the humanoid sector, where critics see the same pattern repeating itself: impressive demos, heavy investment, and uncertain paths to sustained, practical value.
contrast between the at times superhuman acrobatic capabilities of contemporary humanoids while they struggle with basic tasks is a textbook example of Moravec’s Paradox. The idea, first articulated in the 1980s by Austrian roboticist Hans Moravec, describes how tasks humans find effortless are often the hardest for machines because they require perception and manipulation.
For critics like Brooks, viral humanoid dance routines and stunts are seen less as breakthroughs and more as proof of how far the technology remains from being practical. Others are more optimistic, saying the tsunami of humanoid demos actually shows how quickly the field is progressing. They point to dramatic improvements in hardware and control systems compared to just a few years ago, and they exude confidence that scaling data to feed their AI robot brains is beginning to unlock transferable skills.
Unitree’s Virality Strategy
Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics disrupted the emerging market in 2024 when it introduced its short king with its then-shockingly low entry price of $16,000. It prompted an array of rising Chinese startups like EngineAI, NOETIX Robotics, Booster Robotics, Agibot, and MagicLab to introduce their own compact offerings, mostly geared toward researchers and developers.
Launched in 2016 by hardware engineer Wang Xingxing, Unitree has prioritized virality for years. The founder calls Unitree’s viral 2021 performance for the Spring Festival Gala on primetime Chinese television the turning point for the company. More than a billion viewers watched two dozen Unitree robotic dogs performing a synchronized dance to usher in the Year of the Ox. Wang said before the performance, quadrupeds were seen as creepy and mainly for military purposes.
The spectacle helped reframe them as friendly high tech consumer products. The exposure triggered a surge in international orders and investor interest, paving the way for Unitree to scale production of its relatively low-cost alternatives to Boston Dynamics’ Spot for the masses.The Hangzhou-based robotics firm got a similar jolt early in 2025 when 16 of its full-sized H1 robotic humanoids performed a traditional Chinese folk dance alongside professional dancers during the 2025 Spring Festival Gala.
From there, Unitree expanded its visibility by training its robots as mixed martial artists, hosting a televised match featuring remote controlled humanoids in March and later teasing a collaboration with UFC. Interest in robot combat has since surged in parallel in the West, where San Francisco-based REK has been holding sold out tournaments, where humans control boxing humanoids with VR headsets.
Unitree expects its next-gen compact robot, the R1, to be the top-selling humanoid of 2026 with its entry price of $5,900. However, several competing firms are challenging that assumption, including Beijing-based NOETIX Robotics, which has reported more than 1,000 preorders for its pint-sized Bumi humanoid that’s priced around $1,400.
Disney’s Olaf Biped AI Robot
Another near-term use case is for bringing amusement park attractions to life.
Walt Disney Imagineering is developing this free roaming bipedal modeled after Olaf from Frozen. According to its developers, the robot walks autonomously after training with reinforcement learning in simulation. The approach means engineers can translate animated reference movements into real world behaviors without hand coding every step.
Small motors and carefully designed joints are hidden beneath Olaf’s soft outer shell. Its arms, eyes, and mouth move independently, so it can gesture, emote, and speak just like the character. Disney plans to deploy the robots in its theme parks starting in 2026.
LimX’s Dinosaur Robots
Meanwhile in Shenzhen, the rising startup LimX Dynamics recently outfitted its bipedal robot named TRON in a hyper realistic dinosaur outfit for next level immersive learning. Launched in 2022, the company is generating buzz with its next-generation iteration of the robot, mostly for its relatively low entry price and its surreal acrobatic movements.
But the spectacle is only part of the story. With substantial financial backing, LimX is sending its robots into the real world on a mission: to learn to match human abilities and return with knowledge for the incoming wave of robotic workers. Read more about that right here.