A 'knock-out' video of a company CEO voluntarily entering a fighting arena and being kicked to the ground by one of his own feisty robots has gone viral in China, drawing attention to the rapid advancements in humanoid robotics and the growing capabilities of domestic manufacturers in the field.
The highly-agile robot which administered the blow belongs to EngineAI, a Shenzhen-based startup founded by Zhao Tongyang that specializes in general-purpose humanoids.
The video footage, part of a pre-planned stunt, shows Zhao suiting up in protective gear before facing off with the robot, which delivers a kick powerful enough to knock the CEO off his feet.
Shaken but proud of his creation's impressive martial arts skills, Zhao said the company places a strong emphasis on developing robots with impressive combat capabilities, agility and explosive power.
"The appearance needs to be cool enough, the movements dynamic enough, and the self-adjustment capability strong enough. For humans, muscles matter, but for robots, it's all about joint power. We developed the motors, reducers and controllers ourselves, so our energy density is among the best in the world," he said.
Zhao also explained how EngineAI integrates more than 20 high-performance joint actuators into each robot to simulate the function of hundreds of human muscles, enabling smooth, stable and reliable movements. These actuators are compact, energy-dense and equipped with sensors to monitor performance.
At the company's production facility, a single robot can be rapidly assembled in just 15 minutes, while monthly deliveries can reach up to 1,000 units, according to Zhao.
In addition to a high-tech engineering base and assembly plant, EngineAI's factory also features a sizeable training area, with a boxing-ring style fighting area and punch bags for the robots to practice and refine their martial arts abilities.
But for those concerned about getting on the wrong side of these fearsome machines, Zhao offers assurance that the humanoid will be well able to tell friend from foe.
"Each robot has 3D laser vision to scan and identify potential targets. It has more than 20 dynamic joints, and each joint requires a thousand adjustments. We've already input over 100 movements — some defensive, some offensive," Zhao said.
China is accelerating its robotics industry as part of a broader push to cultivate new quality productive forces, an economic concept which stresses unleashing high-tech innovation as a new growth driver.
Many in the industry see this year as a pivotal year in which humanoid robots begin moving into mass production. This view is backed up by data from the the National Bureau of Statistics, which showed that industrial robot output grew by 28 percent year on year in the first six months of 2026.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission have launched a joint program to train humanoid robots and embodied AI systems in real-world settings, with the goal of moving them from a testing phase into actual operations and building deployment capacity at the 10,000-unit scale by the end of the year.
High-energy humanoid 'kick-starts' new robotics age with knock-out blow to CEO
