Yearender: China's humanoid robots step from spectacle toward scalable industrial reality

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- It was not long ago that humanoid robots were confined to laboratories, inching forward as experimental engineering prototypes. But this year, they stepped into public view across China, conspicuously, and sometimes theatrically.

Since early 2025, videos of these robots have trended on social media. They have performed folk dances at the Spring Festival gala, labored on factory floors