Technology was the dominant theme of this year’s Spring Festival Gala.

Robotics companies made their first large-scale appearance on stage.

Volcano Engine, Doubao, and drones made their appearances one after another.

With robots taking center stage, they sparked a tech extravaganza.

Some marveled at their smooth movements and flawless, steady performance.

Others, however, raised the age-old question: what’s the point of robots that can only dance?

Behind the debate lies not only the maturity of industry technology but also the results of commercialization.

01 Tech Startups Burn Through Cash to Stay in the Spotlight

Before the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse began, a shocking piece of news was revealed:

The “entry-level fee” for robotics companies to appear on the Spring Festival Gala has reached the hundreds of millions of yuan.

This year, aside from Yushu Technology, Galaxy General, Magic Atom, and Songyan Power were all making their debut on the Spring Festival Gala.

For robotics companies, all top-tier firms with sufficient capital and mature products are vying for the opportunity to take the stage.

They use the Spring Festival Gala stage to demonstrate their product capabilities, hoping to attract more investors, secure government policy support, showcase their delivery capabilities to B2B clients, and ultimately attract more talent from both home and abroad.

From a business development perspective, why would companies go to such lengths—evenating to “burning through cash”—just to appear on the Spring Festival Gala?

First, 2026 will be a year of industry consolidation for humanoid robots, with only a handful of companies ultimately surviving.

Robotics companies should appear on any stage where they can showcase themselves, and the Spring Festival Gala is one of the most suitable venues for this.

The reason this shakeout is inevitable lies in the fact that the commercialization of humanoid robots remains too difficult; currently, no “must-have” application scenario has been identified.

However, in this competitive landscape, leading companies will inevitably prioritize capturing those “easier-to-implement scenarios” or simply perfecting their products—these are the only two viable paths forward.

Second, humanoid robot companies are still exploring their path to going public, and the industry is actively discussing how to attract more investors.

If a embodied intelligence company can demonstrate its capabilities on the Spring Festival Gala and instill confidence in investors, it stands a good chance of securing policy support. When the company seeks its next round of funding, investors will be more inclined to consider backing it.

For example, companies like Yushu Technology and Galaxy General have already raised billions of yuan and sell thousands of units annually. Since their robots are already mature and usable in certain scenarios, spending money on the Spring Festival Gala for promotion is a viable strategy.

However, for robots that are still in the research and development phase or are only usable in specific specialized scenarios, it is not necessary to incur such high costs.

Third, humanoid robots are currently primarily used in a limited number of scenarios, such as performances and education, with little functional differentiation.

Most companies still focus on basic functions like bipedal walking and dance performances, lacking differentiated competitiveness; there are even voices within the industry saying, “We don’t want robots that can only dance.”

The Spring Festival Gala may spark purchasing interest among a broader audience; after Yushu Technology appeared on the show last year, its robots sold like hotcakes—this is the fundamental reason why companies are scrambling to secure a spot on the stage.

According to reports, within two hours of the 2026 Year of the Horse Spring Festival Gala airing, robot orders on JD.com surged by 150%. At 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, JD.com listed multiple robot models, including the “Gala-featured” robot. Within minutes of the promotion going live, robots from brands such as Magic Atom, Yushu Technology, and Songyan Power were completely sold out.

Fourth, the commercial implementation of robotics is a gradual process, progressing from simple to complex, and practical applications can be found in the various performances on stage.

This is why leading manufacturers in the industry have not blindly pursued “universal applicability across all scenarios,” but instead, based on their own technological strengths, have taken the lead in entering scenarios that are easier to implement and have clearer demand.

The Spring Festival Gala stage has thus become a showcase for achievements across specialized sectors: industrial manufacturing, home services, entertainment interaction, and biomimetic robotics are all advancing in tandem, collectively propelling the industry from “isolated breakthroughs” toward “ecological prosperity.”

What the industry sees is a critical leap for Chinese robotics—from “performing” to “working”—where technology is no longer merely a stage spectacle but is directed toward real-world applications.

02 Overcoming Three Major Hurdles: The Industry’s Stumbling Blocks

Once the spotlight fades and the lights of the Spring Festival Gala stage dim, the competition among robotics companies has only just begun.

Recently, an investor in a robotics company stated bluntly:

“Whether in terms of brand recognition or technical prowess, a robotics company’s standing in the industry has never been determined by isolated technical feats, but rather by a comprehensive ‘hexagonal’ capability encompassing technology, branding, engineering, business operations, delivery, and service.”

Going from 0 to 1 is difficult; going from 1 to 100 is even harder. On the path to robotics commercialization, there are three major hurdles that must be overcome.

The first major hurdle is mass production and delivery capability.

The core of commercialization lies in the ability to consistently and stably deliver standardized products to the market. This severely tests a company’s capacity to ensure product consistency, stability, and reliability during mass production.The fact that a few prototypes in the lab operate flawlessly does not guarantee that thousands or tens of thousands of mass-produced units will maintain the same performance. The transition from prototypes to mass production requires end-to-end capabilities in supply chain management, production process control, and quality control system development—this is the key factor determining whether a company can transform its technological advantages into commercial success.

The second major hurdle is ecosystem synergy.

The commercialization of embodied intelligence has never been something a single company can accomplish on its own.From upstream suppliers of core components, chips, and sensors, to downstream system integrators, channel distributors, and service networks, and further to scenario partners across various industries—only through comprehensive ecosystem synergy can a business scale up and achieve commercial maturity. Whether it involves developing customized solutions for different industries or establishing nationwide or even global after-sales delivery and service systems, the coordinated cooperation of ecosystem partners is essential; going it alone will never enable large-scale implementation.

The third major challenge is global competition and strategic positioning.

Embodied intelligence is a global race, and the ultimate test lies in a company’s ability to compete globally through system-level innovation. True globalization is not merely about exporting products; it involves localized R&D, delivery, operations, and supply chain planning based on the market demands of different countries and regions, adapting to the specific characteristics of local scenarios, and carving out a niche in the global market. Only by becoming a truly global enterprise can a company unlock the long-term growth potential for the commercialization of embodied intelligence.

The leading companies that took the stage at this year’s Spring Festival Gala have delivered their answers on the journey “from 1 to 100”:

Yushu Technology’s humanoid robots have long been renowned for their shipment volumes, with their scale of operations widely recognized within the industry; Magic Atom has established a strategic partnership with leading component manufacturer Lingyi Manufacturing for mass production, and has formed strategic alliances with top enterprises across multiple sectors—including automotive, 3C, aluminum, and cloud computing—to build its ecosystem;Galaxy General has partnered with precision manufacturing firms, with its products gradually entering factories; Songyan Power saw orders surge after gaining widespread attention through a marathon event and now has plans to expand overseas.

From technical validation in laboratories to global debuts on the Spring Festival Gala stage, and on to real-world deployments in factories, shopping malls, and outdoor settings, China’s embodied intelligence companies are steadily turning what was once science fiction into a tangible commercial reality.

03 Embodied Intelligence Companies: Choosing the Right Scenarios

Robots have leaped from supporting roles to starring roles on the Spring Festival Gala.

This comprehensive upgrade in scale and format was no accident, but rather the inevitable result of multiple conditions coming together.

Technologically, breakthroughs in motion control, joint actuation, and group coordination have provided the foundation to support highly stable and technically demanding stage performances.

From a commercial perspective, robotics companies have entered a critical phase of mass production and deployment, urgently needing a nationwide-scale platform like the Spring Festival Gala to validate their product capabilities.

Socially, public acceptance of robots has significantly increased, shifting from “niche tech exhibits” to genuine “future life companions.”

All of this signals that robotics companies have officially moved from the fringes of the stage to the center of the spotlight. Yet behind the glitz, the industry’s challenges cannot be ignored.

High R&D costs, long commercialization cycles, and fierce price wars are widespread challenges. Most humanoid robot companies remain in a “burn money for growth” phase, with profitability still a distant prospect—primarily because they have not selected the right application scenarios.

➢ Entering Industrial Settings

Industrial applications represent the most realistic, stable, and easily monetizable market for robots. Sorting, assembly, loading/unloading, inspection, and material handling—each of these processes faces a massive labor shortage. Yet factories tolerate no margin for error: they demand stability, reliability, low costs, minimal downtime, and 24/7 uninterrupted operation.

A misstep on stage can be redone, but a one-minute stoppage on the production line translates to real financial losses. Many robots perform flawlessly in the lab but frequently “drop the ball” once they enter the factory—essentially failing the reliability test under extreme conditions.

➢ Entering Commercial Settings

Supermarkets, warehouses, hotels, hospitals… These environments are even more complex than factories: they feature dense foot traffic, constantly changing dynamics, and fragmented tasks. Robots must not only move but also see, think, navigate obstacles, and interact.

Being able to perform a pre-programmed interaction on the Spring Festival Gala does not mean a robot can handle unexpected children, shopping carts suddenly cutting across its path, or customers asking unexpected questions in a mall. This no longer tests a single action, but the comprehensive capabilities of an entire embodied intelligence system.

➢ Entering the Home Environment

This is the most distant, most challenging, and largest-scale application scenario—but also the most chaotic and unstructured: uneven floors, scattered clutter, pets running around, children tugging at them, fluctuating lighting, and ambiguous commands… Problems that can be avoided in industrial and commercial settings all converge and erupt within the home.

As the spotlight of the Spring Festival Gala gradually fades, the new journey of the robotics industry has only just begun.

This technological extravaganza is not merely a dazzling debut; it marks a crucial turning point for China’s hard tech sector—shifting from showmanship to practicality, and from concepts to industry.

The anticipated shake-up in 2026 is less a “winter” and more an inevitable process of deflating the bubble and returning to practical action.

Faced with challenges such as unclear application scenarios, unsustainable business models, insufficient competition, and weak collaboration, only companies capable of effectively addressing all these issues will be able to weather the cycle and lead humanoid robots toward a genuine future.