Dancing robots featuring cutting-edge techs wow audience at Spring Festival Gala

Cutting-edge technologies that include artificial intelligence (AI) have shored up a standout synchronized dancing performance offered by humans and humanoid robots together on the stage of the grand Spring Festival Gala on the eve of the Chinese New Year in Beijing.

A team of robot dancers took to the stage alongside their human counterparts for a fun performance featuring the Chinese folk dance Yangge during the 2025 Spring Festival Gala on Tuesday evening, leaving the audience utterly amazed.

The robots also impressively performed the "handkerchief spin" - a signature move in Yangge which typically requires great skill and practice.

Choreographed by Zhang Peng and Li Mengyu - who also directed the gala at last year's Kashgar sub-venue - the performance brought together dancers from diverse ethnic groups, including Kazakh, Hui, Tujia and Buyi, to present a unique blend of tradition and innovation.

The AI software captures every movement of the dancers, transforming them into instructions fine-tuned by the engineers.

Thanks to the large models used in training, the robots' learning efficiency was vastly improved.

It was already the second time for a robot team to make appearance on the Spring Festival Gala stage.

From the four-legged robotic ox on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala in 2021 to this year's bipedal humanoid robots, technological advances have driven the creative possibilities.

"Four legs help maintain stability on the ground easily. But when it comes to only two legs, the robot can't maintain stability with just one foot on the ground. The key is to ensure the robot's fluency and stability throughout the entire dance movement," said Zhang Yangguang, an engineer at Unitree Robotics which produces the robots.

Since debuting its first bipedal humanoid robots in 2023, the team has tackled significant technical challenges, such as robots' ability to move autonomously across complex terrain.

For the Yangge dance this year, the robot team programmed more than 130 dance moves, testing the robots' reliability as each of the 19 joints in the humanoid robots was required to perform large and precise movements.

From a mere concept to reality, these humanoid robots have bridged the gap between technology and art on the grand stage of the Spring Festival Gala.

"Regarding artistic creation, I think what is essential is to keep art in pace with the times. We need to continuously develop the excellent connotations of our traditional culture. In the past, we incorporated sound and light technology and multimedia in dance at theaters, and now we are merging it with cutting-edge technologies and robots. It's an entirely new challenge," said Zhang Peng, vice dean of the Dance School at Xinjiang Arts University.

The Spring Festival Gala is a Chinese New Year special produced by China Media Group (CMG). It is broadcast annually on the eve of the Chinese New Year on its flagship CCTV-1 and internationally through the China Global Television Network. The gala has the largest audience of any entertainment show in the world, and is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's most watched television program.

Dancing robots featuring cutting-edge techs wow audience at Spring Festival Gala

Dancing robots featuring cutting-edge techs wow audience at Spring Festival Gala

Dancing robots featuring cutting-edge techs wow audience at Spring Festival Gala

Dancing robots featuring cutting-edge techs wow audience at Spring Festival Gala

The second round of U.S.-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine concluded in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday, with both sides agreeing to a large-scale prisoner exchange but failing to achieve substantive breakthroughs on core issues such as territorial arrangements and a ceasefire.

According to Ukraine, the talks were conducted trilaterally before moving to group consultations. Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said the Ukrainian delegation sought a "dignified and lasting peace," without disclosing specific outcomes.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said the trilateral negotiations had been truly constructive, thanking the U.S. and the UAE for their mediating roles.

Russia's presidential special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Thursday that there was progress and a positive movement forward in peace talks with Ukraine.

The talks ended with no joint political or security statement, underscoring persistent differences between Russia and Ukraine on key matters, including territorial disputes, ceasefire arrangements, and security guarantees.

U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said representatives from the three countries reached a consensus on a prisoner swap.

In a readout of the talks he posted on social media, Witkoff described the discussions as constructive and focused on how to create the conditions for a durable peace.

The delegations had wide-ranging discussions over the past two days on the remaining open issues, including methods for implementing a ceasefire and monitoring the cessation of military activities, according to Witkoff.

He added that the United States and Russia had agreed to establish a military-to-military dialogue to be led by commander of U.S. European Command Alexus Grynkewich.

Following the talks, Russia and Ukraine conducted their first large-scale prisoner exchange in nearly five months, with each side returning 157 detainees. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said those released included both military personnel and civilians.

Zelensky also said Thursday that the next peace talks with the delegations of the U.S. and Russia will be held soon. "Further meetings are planned in the near future, likely in the United States," Zelensky said in his evening address.

However, no timetable or arrangements for a next round of talks were announced, highlighting continued uncertainty in the political settlement process.

The second round of talks began on Wednesday. The previous meeting of the trilateral working group on security issues took place from Jan 23 to 24 in Abu Dhabi. It marked the first trilateral engagement since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022, although no concrete agreement or joint statement was announced afterward.

In a statement issued earlier, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed cooperation between Russia and Ukraine on the prisoner exchange, saying it demonstrated the UAE's role as a reliable mediator in easing the crisis and promoting constructive dialogue.

2nd round of Russia-Ukraine talks ends in UAE with prisoner swap deal, key differences unresolved