Chinese Robots, Human Partner Dance Their Way To America's Got Talent Finale

Chinese dancer Wu Yufei has made it to the finale of the popular US TV show America's Got Talent alongside a crew of robots developed by Chinese humanoid pioneer Unitree. From synchronised dance routines to kung fu moves, Wu says the robots' rapid learning ability is "quite terrifying."  Hangzhou-based firm Unitree had previously drawn significant attention during China's annual Spring Festival gala performance, with its dexterous robots, wearing traditional Chinese vests, seen performing kung fu and jumping over tablesComparing the learning capabilities of Robots and human dancers, Wu Yufei said, "For human dancers, when we learn something new, such as the various street dance styles, it can take us one to two years to learn a single style. With robots, as soon as one robot learns it, they all know how to do it at the same time.""Human dancers still have our own advantages. On stage, we can quickly adapt to unexpected situations and make on-the-spot adjustments to the formations or what we’re doing. We can adapt very quickly, whereas robots might need more time, despite being able to learn the moves faster than us," he said.  But he says he also enjoys performing with them and has developed a sense of "team spirit" with these machines that are "not just cold, lifeless." Xie Shiyu, a marketing manager at Unitree, said that the dance performance was showcased to let people know where the robot’s current level of stability is, and where the boundaries of its athletic capabilities lie.  Meanwhile, Fang Zhenghua, art director of Wu and Unitree's performance, said he was against the idea of showcasing this dance performance at first, but his colleagues helped to let go of that mindset.  "I feel the colleagues at Unitree helped us let go of that mindset, because everyone has realised that it's all human's effort that has created the flourishing state of robotics today, not just the robots themselves," Zhenghua said.