Live data from Hacker News

Martial arts robots at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]

youtube.com

71–80 of 146 posts

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

#71

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…

I've worked on much less expensive, much smaller humanoid robots.

These robots are certainly running through a scripted set of poses which has been extensively tested for the conditions (Humans would also be choreographed and have to hit certain marks at certain times). If you covered the stage in loose gravel or a thick carpet they'd all start falling over. The things the robots hold are almost certainly taped into their hands.

Despite that, this is a very impressive demo. Those robots are $40k+, they've got 20+ of them. And not a single one fell over. They're fast too - and there are a load of corners they could have cut, but they didn't.

The floor has two textures, it would have been easier without that. The humans right alongside them? Much less safety paperwork without them. The robot wearing trousers and a cape? Much easier without that. The fewer robots you have, the lower the chances on falls over landing their backflip. Lose the audience and record it in multiple takes. Hell, you could have human acrobats in robot costumes and it'd cost far less and be much easier.

So this demo is very much a costly signal of confidence.

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

#72
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The H2 is what everyone is talking about now some specs here: https://www.unitree.com/H2 claimed 3h battery life, can hold about 10% of its weight (7kg, with arms)

So Atlas can lift 7x the capacity. Even Digit, the tote-consolidating robot, can do 35lbs. Unitree's demos are a lot of fun, and the antics of releasing the G1 to the public has certainly captured people's attention, but a "working" robot won't look, act, or develop from the G1 or even H2.

Unitree has plenty other industrial robots. https://www.unitree.com/ -> Click Robots

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

#73
Last time I had to implement a typed programming language, it was for short programs only. So for typing I just converted the program into a large set of constraints and throw z4 at it, asking to optimize for smallest possible types. If z4 could find types for every expressions in less than a few seconds then it was well typed.

You had to use a few trick for larger programs, but basically it managed to type any real programs and I never encountered an ambihuous case that caused a problem in practice. In case of failure, the small set of unsatisfiable constraints was easy to translate into nice error messages. This also allows for typing rules that are easy to state and can accomodate operators that adapts nicely to their environment.

I would understand if this approach would be frowned upon, but I still wonder if any serious language ever used this approach?

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

#74
post #63

This is AMAZING. We are definitely on an exponential in term of capabilities of humanoid robots. We are probably only years away from having a robot in the house, in construction of robots. Automating anything that a human can do is best done in a human sized robot. But. None of these are actually useful right now. I don't want something with the arm strength of a forklift taking care of my parents or kids. The deman…

> I don't want something with the arm strength of a forklift taking care of my parents or kids.

A risk I never hear discussed is falling over and injuring children. Even the petite Unitree models are like a 70kg piece of furniture. Each year thousands get injured because of furniture falling over. I'd buy one immediately, but if I had kids or pets, I would wait for safety data on falls.

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

#75
I was born in 1989. The most impressive sudden technological advance I have experienced have been LLMs. This video is a good candidate for second place. I am mindblown... That they even dare having children dance with them. The trust they must place. An acquantance bought a chess board with a robot arm, and it accidentally broke his finger because he picked up a piece that the robot arm wanted to pick up. China isn't just a few hours in the future, more like decades it feels like.

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

#76
post #62

To best understand the speed of progress right now, take a look at the show from last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIq_AM4q534

It looks like the difference between the Boston Dynamics robots 2016 vs 2021 The Spot dog (which inspired the Black Mirror "Metalhead" episode) in 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7IEVTDjng Atlas doing backflips in 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FByY3tSx2Ak So 5 years of progress within a year.

spot dog is hydraulically powered junk, unitree is motor driven from day one. Boston Dynamics was forced to switch to a motor driven architecture after it is proven by unitree.

Boston Dynamics is the follower here.

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

#77
post #73

Last time I had to implement a typed programming language, it was for short programs only. So for typing I just converted the program into a large set of constraints and throw z4 at it, asking to optimize for smallest possible types. If z4 could find types for every expressions in less than a few seconds then it was well typed. You had to use a few trick for larger programs, but basically it managed to type any real…

damn, now I would like to know what you were really answering to.

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

#78
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…

Watch out, the two shorts you linked (both of robots playing ping-pong) are fake.

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

#79
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The H2 is what everyone is talking about now some specs here: https://www.unitree.com/H2 claimed 3h battery life, can hold about 10% of its weight (7kg, with arms)

So Atlas can lift 7x the capacity. Even Digit, the tote-consolidating robot, can do 35lbs. Unitree's demos are a lot of fun, and the antics of releasing the G1 to the public has certainly captured people's attention, but a "working" robot won't look, act, or develop from the G1 or even H2.

I don't need a robot to lift more than 15lbs in order to do all my maid work

Focussing on load capacity is missing the forest for the trees

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

#80

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…

I've worked on much less expensive, much smaller humanoid robots. These robots are certainly running through a scripted set of poses which has been extensively tested for the conditions (Humans would also be choreographed and have to hit certain marks at certain times). If you covered the stage in loose gravel or a thick carpet they'd all start falling over. The things the robots hold are almost certainly taped into…

> They're fast too

That was of of the two things that impressed me most, along with the choreography involving close and direct contact

Post reply on HN