THE MORNING LINE
Was China’s Kung Fu Moon-Shot Real?
Robot demonstrations are notorious for going comically awry. Seat Robby at a staged dinner and he will stab himself in the eye with a forkful of make-believe mashed potatoes. Have him put a butter dish back in the refrigerator and he’ll slam the door on his head. So what, then, are we to make of this video, which showcases China’s latest entry in the global competition to build robots that are more human?
Stunning, isn’t it? This is a kung-fu ballet, performed by acrobatic children and a troupe of robots who move with the gracefulness of dancers at the barre. When they abruptly shift gears, vaulting into ten-foot-high somersaults, they land squarely on the rubberized balls of their feet, perfectly balanced. Even more impressive is that there are a dozen of them doing these elaborately choreographed moves in perfect synchronicity.
Search Google for a skeptical take on all this and you have to call up a fifth page of results to find anyone who doubts the video is real. Ever the skeptic, my instinct is to disregard all the oohs and ahhs and focus on the doubters, just as many of us do with product reviews on Amazon. Here’s a jibe on X from an observer who supposedly witnessed a similar demonstration in Shenzen a month earlier: “The [robots were] slow, shaky and could barely shuffle, let alone do any of this. This isn’t the first time [Chinese manufacturer) Unitree has used CGI to fake capability.”
“13 Billion Views”
So who’s telling the truth? It’s an important question, since the video reportedly has attracted 13 billion views so far. That’s according to Chinese news sources, but does the outside world have any reason to trust them? The country’s leaders have a strong incentive to show off the nation’s technological prowess, especially when it is not a nuclear missile glowering at the world from Tiananmen Square. The kung fu demonstration was a very big deal in the world of technology, and if the video was not enhanced, the robots’ performance would be on a par with America’s moonshot in 1969 with Apollo 11.
Even Musk concedes that China is “kicking ass” in humanoid robotics. However, as we went to press, he had not commented publicly on the kung-fu demonstration, which was televised during China’s recent Spring Festival Gala. If the video turns out to have been undoctored, he’ll have his work cut out for him. Is there a cage-fight-of-the-century on the horizon?
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