Life in Mainland China
Robots: a Chinese conversation with pinyin and English
Humanoid robots danced on the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, and a robot ran the 2026 Beijing half marathon in 50 minutes 26 seconds.
Play: RobotsThe conversation
Speakers: Xiaoyu and Yating.
- Xiaoyu
你看了2025年春晚的机器人秧歌吗?我奶奶差点把手机摔了。
Did you catch the robot yangge dance at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala? My grandma almost dropped her phone.
- Yating
16台宇树H1人形机器人,跟真人一块儿扭秧歌还抛手绢呢。
Sixteen Unitree H1 humanoid robots were dancing yangge right alongside real people, and they were even tossing handkerchiefs.
- Xiaoyu
跳得比我都好,气人。
They danced better than I do. So annoying.
- Yating
2025年4月北京还举办了机器人半程马拉松,跟人类选手一起跑的。
Beijing even hosted a robot half marathon in April 2025, running right alongside human competitors.
- Xiaoyu
我有印象,当时不少机器人在路上直踉跄。
I remember that. Quite a few of the robots were stumbling all over the place.
- Yating
冠军成绩是2小时40分。再看看2026年的数据。
The winner clocked in at 2 hours 40 minutes. Now look at the 2026 numbers.
- Xiaoyu
那2026年4月夺冠的机器人,到底跑了多长时间?
So how long did the robot that won in April 2026 actually take?
- 50分26秒 50 minutes and 26 seconds
- 5小时26分 5 hours and 26 minutes
- 26分50秒 26 minutes and 50 seconds
Answer
50分26秒 50 minutes and 26 seconds
- Yating
50分26秒。直接打破了人类57分20秒的世界纪录。
50 minutes and 26 seconds. It completely smashed the human world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds.
- Xiaoyu
短短一年就这速度?我是不是该提前练习百米冲刺了?
Improving that fast in just one year? Should I start practicing my 100-meter dash now?
- Yating
你那两条腿可跑不过人家服务器。
Your two legs aren't outrunning their servers.
- Xiaoyu
说曹操曹操到,咱们的饺子就是送餐机器人端来的,还叮嘱我慢用。
Speak of the devil, our dumplings were brought over by a delivery robot that even told me to enjoy my meal.
- Yating
现在送餐机器人可聪明了,酒店里连电梯都会自己坐。
Delivery robots are so smart these days. In hotels, they even ride elevators all by themselves.
- Xiaoyu
态度倒挺客气,我都想给它塞个红包了。
It was so polite I almost wanted to slip it a red envelope.
- Yating
人家机器不收小费。
Robots don't take tips.
- Xiaoyu
那只好我把饺子全收下了,扯平。
Guess I'll just have to eat all the dumplings myself to call it even.
Words in the conversation
Notes
The 2025 Spring Festival Gala
On the 2025 Spring Festival Gala (Chunwan), 16 Unitree H1 humanoids danced the yangge folk dance with 16 human dancers in a piece titled "Yang BOT". The robots spun and caught handkerchiefs. It was made with director Zhang Yimou and the Xinjiang Arts Institute.
World Humanoid Robot Games
The games ran in Beijing from 14 to 17 August 2025, with about 280 teams and over 500 robots, at the National Stadium (Bird's Nest) and the National Speed Skating Oval. Events included running, football, boxing-style fights and practical tasks.
Half marathon, 2025
On 19 April 2025 about 21 humanoid robots ran the 21 km Yizhuang course in Beijing alongside human runners. The winner, Tiangong Ultra from the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, took 2 hours 40 minutes 42 seconds. Robots fell repeatedly.
Half marathon, 2026
On 19 April 2026 more than 100 humanoid entries ran in lanes separate from the human runners. A robot from the phone maker Honor won in 50 minutes 26 seconds with autonomous navigation, about 25 km/h on average, faster than the men's human world record of 57:20.
Factory humanoids
UBTech began mass production and delivery of "several hundred" Walker S2 industrial humanoids in mid-November 2025. The robot swaps its own battery to work around the clock, and it works in car factories, smart factories, logistics and data-collection centres.
Delivery robots
In restaurants a wheeled robot with trays brings dishes to the table and speaks a short line. Hotel robots ride the lift to deliver to rooms.
Robot vacuums
IDC's figures for the first three quarters of 2025 put Roborock first in smart robotic vacuum shipments, ahead of Ecovacs and Dreame.
Industrial robots
The International Federation of Robotics counted about 295,000 industrial robots installed in China in 2024, a record and 54% of the 542,000 installed worldwide.
Robots
Humanoid robots danced on the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, and a robot ran the 2026 Beijing half marathon in 50 minutes 26 seconds.
How many Unitree H1 robots danced at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala?
Answer
16. They danced with 16 human performers.
Which folk dance did they perform?
Answer
Yangge. The robots spun and caught handkerchiefs.
The winner of the 2025 Beijing humanoid half marathon took about:
Answer
2 h 40 min. Tiangong Ultra, 19 April 2025.
In April 2026 the winning robot ran the half marathon in:
Answer
50 min 26 s. That beat the men's human world record of 57:20.
Which company built the robot that won in 2026?
Answer
Honor. Honor is best known for phones.
In 2024 China installed what share of the world's new industrial robots?
Answer
54%. IFR: 295,000 of 542,000.
UBTech's factory humanoid that swaps its own battery is the:
Answer
Walker S2. Mass delivery began in November 2025.