Advanced humanoid robot brings backstage fun to Spring Festival Gala rehearsal

China

Advanced humanoid robot brings backstage fun to Spring Festival Gala rehearsal

2026-02-13 16:02 Last Updated At：22:17

An advanced humanoid robot put in a cheerful backstage appearance as rehearsals ramp up for the China Media Group (CMG)'s 2026 Spring Festival Gala, bringing some light relief to performers who are busy refining their preparations for the upcoming entertainment extravaganza.

The much-anticipated gala is set to air on the Chinese New Year's Eve on Feb 16, combining traditional Chinese cultural elements with modern stagecraft and high-tech visuals. Featuring a variety of colorful acts and star-studded guest appearances, the hours-long show will run past midnight, ringing in the Year of the Horse.

Commonly known as "Chunwan" in Chinese, the gala has been broadcast live on each Chinese New Year's Eve since 1983, and has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the most-watched annual television program on the planet.

The CMG, the country's flagship broadcaster, conducted the fourth full rehearsal for this year's gala on Feb 8.

And as the final touches were being made, a special little robot friend showed up behind the scenes and gatecrashed some of the activities.

Named Bumi, the highly-flexible humanoid robot stands 94 cm tall and weighs around 12 kg, and features more than 21 degrees of freedom, allowing it to perform complex physical movements.

Amid warm and amusing scenes, the little robot was seen walking around the CMG's gala venue and happily interacting with actors, singers and other guest performers, while delivering New Year's greetings.

Bumi was launched by Chinese tech firm Noetix Robotics last October and is the world's first high-performance humanoid robot to be priced under 10,000 yuan (around 1,400 U.S. dollars). It also integrates smooth voice interaction and zero-threshold graphical programming functions, enabling to be more easily developed and programmed by users.

In late January, the CMG announced that Noetix Robotics would become its official humanoid robot partner for the 2026 Spring Festival Gala.

The Beijing-based start-up was established in 2023 and is committed to the research and development of multiple areas such as general artificial intelligence bodies, bionic robots and embodied operating systems, forming a product matrix including general humanoid robots and bionic robots.

2026 APEC trade ministers' meeting concludes with fruitful results

The 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting concluded in east China's Suzhou on Saturday, yielding fruitful results and laying significant groundwork for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

The trade ministers' meeting focused on "building an open and predictable regional and multilateral economic and trade order" and "fostering new engines of innovative and dynamic trade and investment cooperation."

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao briefed the media on the meeting's outcomes at a press conference.

Wang said the meeting issued a joint statement titled the Suzhou Statement, and approved the latest edition of the APEC Roadmap for Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Services.

All parties agreed to advance policy innovation and reform in services trade, build an open and predictable investment environment, improve regional trade facilitation and supply chain resilience, strengthen standards coordination, and enhance intellectual property protection, Wang told the media.

He also said that substantial progress was made on a framework document for regional digital trade cooperation and the ministers emphasized promoting inclusive AI development, strengthening AI-related trade, and bridging the digital divide to ensure shared benefits from digital transformation.

The minister noted that the outcomes of the meeting demonstrated strong cooperation willingness, highlighted an innovation-oriented approach, and reflected inclusiveness and shared benefits. "The fact that Asia-Pacific economies can come together, uphold the original aspiration of promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation while supporting economic growth and prosperity, and engage in in-depth discussions on the important issue of 'where multilateral and regional economic and trade cooperation is headed,' fully demonstrates that open regionalism and true multilateralism enjoy broad support, and that mutual success and shared development serve the fundamental interests of all economies," Wang said.