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Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

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Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#31
post #22

Some people on X are saying they're "just" cloning/copying "puppet" human movements. I know very little about robotics, but given these appear totally free-standing, if that was the case (I personally don't think it is), wouldn't that imply they have the same centre of gravity and weight of limbs as humans? Surely they'd have to be able to balance themselves, and copying a human's movements "exactly" wouldn't work fo…

Yes, the autonomy level of these robots was what I was yesterday emailing with my former colleagues we were wondering. Two months ago CNET & PC-Mag posted following video which suggests more about robots movements being assisted by humans. And it also shows Chinese have being edge of the development at that point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXTibM33SDg However, then another short video bit alike popped up and is…

I think the ping pong match video might be misleading you. Based on the visual artifacts around the robot, the original footage likely had a human player that was swapped in with a robot in this video. It also has an altered content warning.

Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#32
post #22

Some people on X are saying they're "just" cloning/copying "puppet" human movements. I know very little about robotics, but given these appear totally free-standing, if that was the case (I personally don't think it is), wouldn't that imply they have the same centre of gravity and weight of limbs as humans? Surely they'd have to be able to balance themselves, and copying a human's movements "exactly" wouldn't work fo…

Yes, the autonomy level of these robots was what I was yesterday emailing with my former colleagues we were wondering. Two months ago CNET & PC-Mag posted following video which suggests more about robots movements being assisted by humans. And it also shows Chinese have being edge of the development at that point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXTibM33SDg However, then another short video bit alike popped up and is…

I'm 99% sure that ping pong match is CGI. The whole robot has this green screen effect. Look at its feet. And at second 17 it just disappears entirely for a few frames.

Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#33
post #4

there is reason why in those 5 minutes you see them together in same shot with audience only 2 times and only for few seconds there is reason why most of the shots are not wide angle showing whole scene, seems they learned their lesson from last year where you could easily see on the edges all the failures this was heavily edited and repeated, I mean is it really surprising considering all CGI you see during whole ga…

Yeah, I noticed the heavy editing of the gala this year too and it was very disappointing. Even in tons of performances / dances where they really shouldn't have needed to there were obvious cinematic shots were not 'live' from the same recording. While for the robots I can imagine the pressure might have lead to editing a few takes, it really took away from the regular dancing performances and made it feel a bit more like watching a heavily edited music video.

Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#34
post #22

Some people on X are saying they're "just" cloning/copying "puppet" human movements. I know very little about robotics, but given these appear totally free-standing, if that was the case (I personally don't think it is), wouldn't that imply they have the same centre of gravity and weight of limbs as humans? Surely they'd have to be able to balance themselves, and copying a human's movements "exactly" wouldn't work fo…

Yes, the autonomy level of these robots was what I was yesterday emailing with my former colleagues we were wondering. Two months ago CNET & PC-Mag posted following video which suggests more about robots movements being assisted by humans. And it also shows Chinese have being edge of the development at that point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXTibM33SDg However, then another short video bit alike popped up and is…

that ping pong video is a CG robot, whether realtime superimposed or otherwise who knows. Look at the :27 when it gets out of tracking breaking all of physics, feet aren't planted to the ground, light, shadows.. etc.

Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#35

Some people on X are saying they're "just" cloning/copying "puppet" human movements. I know very little about robotics, but given these appear totally free-standing, if that was the case (I personally don't think it is), wouldn't that imply they have the same centre of gravity and weight of limbs as humans? Surely they'd have to be able to balance themselves, and copying a human's movements "exactly" wouldn't work fo…

Of course the robots have been pre-trained and the movements are scripted, and nobody is claiming otherwise. But there must be a lot of autonomous balancing taking place. At one point you can see the robots adjusting their feet slightly different although they are all in sync, and that catapult does not look like its movement is exactly the same every time. It is just super impressive.

Does anyone remember when Honda's Asimo robot clumsily fell down the stairs during a demonstration[1] and we thought we were safe from a robot invasion by just moving to the upper floor? That was about 20 years ago.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mx6paHrnIE

Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#36

I assume this is highly staged as a set routine? No less impressive, but is it likely each robot autonomously learned a routine? Or just got programmed for a very exact act?

I'm not so sure what this question means... are you asking if China has AGI right now? I'm quite sure all similar performances done by humans are all staged.

Perhaps improv theater is the better test for AGI

Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#37
post #22

Some people on X are saying they're "just" cloning/copying "puppet" human movements. I know very little about robotics, but given these appear totally free-standing, if that was the case (I personally don't think it is), wouldn't that imply they have the same centre of gravity and weight of limbs as humans? Surely they'd have to be able to balance themselves, and copying a human's movements "exactly" wouldn't work fo…

Yes, the autonomy level of these robots was what I was yesterday emailing with my former colleagues we were wondering. Two months ago CNET & PC-Mag posted following video which suggests more about robots movements being assisted by humans. And it also shows Chinese have being edge of the development at that point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXTibM33SDg However, then another short video bit alike popped up and is…

The second video you've linked is fake in every aspect in regards to the robot.

The robot is floating above the ground.

The paddle is phasing in and out of existence.

The robot has a realistic human hand and uses it to hit the ball.

The robot randomly turns around mid-air near the end of the video.

The robot looks nothing like a Unitree robot.

Oh, how could I forget, the entire robot looks so obviously fake even when disregarding all of the above that I can't believe you're even trying to analyze anything in that video.

Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#38

I assume this is highly staged as a set routine? No less impressive, but is it likely each robot autonomously learned a routine? Or just got programmed for a very exact act?

Based on where other companies are right now, it's probably a pre programmed routine, but the robots autonomously balance themselves. Anything beyond that would be quite a large leap, and I think Unitree would've gloated about it way more outside of the gala. The robots' speed and consistency are still impressive, though.

Re: Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

#39
post #22

Some people on X are saying they're "just" cloning/copying "puppet" human movements. I know very little about robotics, but given these appear totally free-standing, if that was the case (I personally don't think it is), wouldn't that imply they have the same centre of gravity and weight of limbs as humans? Surely they'd have to be able to balance themselves, and copying a human's movements "exactly" wouldn't work fo…

Yes, the autonomy level of these robots was what I was yesterday emailing with my former colleagues we were wondering. Two months ago CNET & PC-Mag posted following video which suggests more about robots movements being assisted by humans. And it also shows Chinese have being edge of the development at that point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXTibM33SDg However, then another short video bit alike popped up and is…

here is a real video of a unitree robot playing ping pong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOfPKW6D3gE
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