Revealing the Hundred-Day Struggle of This Robot Company Behind the "Two Cai Ming" on the Spring Festival Gala

Text | Qiu Xiaofen

Editor | Su Jianxun

During the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse in 2026, when the famous performing artist Cai Ming slowly rolled out a robot that looked exactly like her in the sketch "Grandma's Favorite", middle - aged audiences collectively recalled the Spring Festival Gala sketch "Funny Stories about Robots" from 30 years ago.

△ In 1996, Cai Ming and Guo Da performed the sketch "Funny Stories about Robots" on the Spring Festival Gala, and Cai Ming herself played the "robot" delivered to the door. Picture source: Screenshot from CCTV News video

But Cai Ming finally stopped playing the robot. 30 years later, Cai Ming only needed to be the "sharp - tongued grandma". All the "show - off" parts were handed over to the real robots.

In the plot of the sketch, the "Cai Ming" rolled out by the real Cai Ming when she got home was a bionic robot. It was as "sharp - tongued" as Cai Ming. Its makeup, skin, and even the lip - sync when complaining about the actor Wang Tianfang who played the grandson were just like a real person.

△ Picture source: Screenshot from CCTV Spring Festival Gala video

The other robots also had their own unique skills. On the show, the robot "Xiaobumi", which played Cai Ming's twin little grandson, was only 94 centimeters tall and danced hip - hop on the stage. To gain attention, the robot N2 did three consecutive backflips on the stage, and the robot E1 directly stretched its "neck" one meter long.

The five humanoid robots that showed off their skills crazily in the sketch were all from the Beijing - based robot startup "Songyan Dynamics". Although the company had only been established for two and a half years, it had made rapid progress in technology and commercialization.

In 2025, "Songyan Dynamics" launched the world's first robot N2 capable of continuous somersaults in multiple scenarios and won the second place in the Beijing Yizhuang Humanoid Robot Half - Marathon. Relying on its product strength and a price within ten thousand yuan, the company's online and offline orders in 2025 exceeded thousands in total.

Regarding the cooperation with the Spring Festival Gala, "Intelligent Emergence" interviewed Jiang Zheyuan, the founder of "Songyan Dynamics", and talked about their hundred - day struggle to realize the "bionic Cai Ming robot", continuous backflips of robots, etc.

△ Picture source: Screenshot from CCTV Spring Festival Gala video

Putting humanoid robots on the Spring Festival Gala was a decision that came about through mutual agreement. Just a few days after Jiang Zheyuan led his team to meet with the Spring Festival Gala production team, the two sides finalized the specific form of cooperation. The bionic humans and the stable somersault ability of a series of robots under Songyan Dynamics were the important reasons why they were favored by the production team.

"It's so lifelike (the bionic humanoid robot)", Jiang Zheyuan still remembered that when Cai Ming saw the bionic humanoid robot of "Songyan Dynamics" for the first time, she sighed like this.

Making humanoid robots show rich expressions comparable to humans is a complex systematic project - enough motors need to be stuffed into the small face to ensure sufficient degrees of freedom. At the same time, the motors need to be small enough, and the algorithms behind them need to cooperate seamlessly.

Bionic face

To ensure the stability of continuous backflips, "Songyan Dynamics" adjusted and optimized the algorithm to ensure the stability of the somersaulting robots when landing.

"The hundred - day struggle before the Spring Festival Gala was a great boost to our robot R & D," Jiang Zheyuan told "Intelligent Emergence" directly.

For example, after each rehearsal, the Songyan team would almost always receive action suggestions from the director group - asking the robots to raise their heads, add micro - expressions, etc. And the team often needed to quickly adjust the actions and matching algorithms within one or two days.

In order to make the robots' actions more precise, after the first rehearsal, Jiang Zheyuan even bought the "scenery pieces" used in the Spring Festival Gala sketch and built an identical scene overnight in a rough - cast workshop near the company.

Besides preparing for the show, another issue that humanoid robot manufacturers are more concerned about is: how to handle the surge of traffic after the Spring Festival Gala.

Jiang Zheyuan analyzed to "Intelligent Emergence" that after the robots appeared on the Spring Festival Gala in 2025, they "sold like hotcakes". There were two growth logics behind it: First, the huge traffic of the Spring Festival Gala was converted into robot sales. At the same time, the performance on the Spring Festival Gala also opened up a brand - new commercial scenario.

"The Spring Festival Gala is like a war. After opening up the battlefield, it's more important to have ground troops to harvest and clean up the battlefield," so besides preparing for the Spring Festival Gala, Jiang Zheyuan also made more preparations.

For example, for the mass production and commercial delivery of Xiaobumi (the robot grandson who danced hip - hop in Cai Ming's sketch), they cooperated with an OEM manufacturer and planned to "build up inventory" to deal with the possible surge in sales.

Of course, the Spring Festival Gala brought not only sales but also an improvement in brand effect. It was also a high - density popularization of robots. Jiang Zheyuan said that in 2026, they planned to open up new application scenarios, sending robots into family companionship and exploring educational scenarios.

It is foreseeable that in 2026, when four Chinese robot manufacturers put their humanoid robots on the Spring Festival Gala stage, this lively evening party will be the starting point of another war - related to the commercialization of robots and the survival of robot companies.

The following is the real - time record of the communication between "Intelligent Emergence" and Jiang Zheyuan, the founder of Songyan Dynamics:

Iterate the robots by the hour before the Spring Festival Gala

"Intelligent Emergence": The idea of calling back the sketch "Funny Stories about Robots" from 30 years ago is quite interesting. How did this idea come about?

Jiang Zheyuan: Actually, it was the result of discussions among many of us. Our product line is very rich. The robot N2 is 1.2 meters tall, E1 is 1.4 meters tall, Xiaobumi is 94 centimeters tall, and there is also a bionic humanoid robot. From the time we decided on this to the day of the Spring Festival Gala, it was about a hundred days.

"Intelligent Emergence": What's your current work rhythm like?

Jiang Zheyuan: After each rehearsal of the Spring Festival Gala, many new requirements for our robots' actions were put forward, such as whether the humanoid robots could raise their heads or have micro - expressions. This requires very high capabilities in software, hardware, and iteration. We basically need to complete these new tasks within one to two days.

We write daily reports every day to update the progress of different products, and we need to break it down to a specific action. Basically, we iterate by the day and by the hour.

I asked for all the microphones in Hall 1 before and gave a speech on - site. I told our staff: How many chances do you have to be on the Spring Festival Gala in your lifetime? How many chances do you have to enter Hall 1? You must cherish this opportunity.

I hope that for the operators, the actions of all the robots on the stage are like a cerebellar reaction. They don't need to think too much. As soon as they hear the corresponding lines, they can make the robots perform the actions smoothly, forming muscle memory.

There is also an interesting thing. We entered Hall 1 for the first time at 4 p.m. that day. By 2 a.m., several large trucks directly transported the three scenery pieces needed for the sketch to a rough - cast workshop near our company. We built a 1:1 replica of the Spring Festival Gala scene because the robots couldn't practice without that scene.

"Intelligent Emergence": Your robots also did actions like backflips. Did you come up with these actions yourself or were they requirements from the production team?

Jiang Zheyuan: It was the result of mutual adaptation between the two sides. They would consider what actions were needed to support the effect of the show. Of course, we would base on the existing functions to see which ones could meet the requirements of the show.

At that time, they hoped that our robots must do backflips. But actually, our most stable somersault was the front flip. Finally, we spent three days to make a very stable backflip.

In this show, the robots had to do at least three somersaults. The backflip action is actually very difficult for few companies to do stably and continuously, especially in a live - broadcast situation, rather than doing it ten times and recording the successful one to post a video. This requires extremely stable algorithm debugging.

"Intelligent Emergence": You also made a bionic face of an actor. How did you make it? Is it difficult to achieve technically?

Jiang Zheyuan: There are several aspects of the difficulty of the bionic face. First, how rich the expressions the robot's face can make requires a sufficient number of degrees of freedom on the face, the motors need to be small enough, and the algorithm control needs to be natural and precise enough.

Second, the bionic face needs to be as lifelike as a real person. Since we can make a 1:1 replica, it also means we can make any replica. Third, the lip - sync for interaction is the most difficult and requires a major breakthrough in algorithms. In short, the bionic face is a comprehensive project.

The Spring Festival Gala is like a "war"

"Intelligent Emergence": There will definitely be a surge of traffic after the Spring Festival Gala. Besides preparing for the Spring Festival Gala show, what other preparations have you made to handle the "Spring Festival Gala effect"?

Jiang Zheyuan: The Spring Festival Gala is a bit like going to war. First, use bombers to bomb the area to be "attacked". More importantly, after that, ground troops are needed to "harvest" in the enemy's position and clean up the battlefield. We also made several preparations at the same time.

First, prepare for production capacity. Xiaobumi is planned to start mass production in March. We have already prepared to cooperate with an OEM manufacturer and build up inventory.

Second, prepare for promotion. We hope to let people know that we have an affordable consumer - grade humanoid robot priced at more than ten thousand yuan, so as to have a stronger presence in the ToC and ToB consumer - grade markets.

Third, recruit people. I believe that the employer brand will be greatly improved, which will help us build a stronger technical team.

"Intelligent Emergence": Are you most concerned about the shipment volume now?

Jiang Zheyuan: Yes.

"Intelligent Emergence": But when the shipment volume explodes on a large scale, delivery may also be a challenge. How will you deal with the potential delivery problems?

Jiang Zheyuan: Our delivery problem will be much smaller because we have already gone through this process. We used to make robots by hand on our own production line. We increased the production capacity from about 30 units per month to 500 units per month by December last year.

"Intelligent Emergence": What's the user profile of your shipments?

Jiang Zheyuan: One is professional consumers overseas; the second is domestic family consumers at the C - end, mainly families with children; the third is the educational field.

"Intelligent Emergence": The timing of going on the Spring Festival Gala is quite ingenious for you. It just happens to be at a stage where your products are well - developed and can be stably delivered. If you were still in the stage from 0 to 1, would you have gone on the Spring Festival Gala?

Jiang Zheyuan: That's right. Actually, our choice to go on the Spring Festival Gala at this time is also closely related to our current product business stage.

There is a concept in the supply chain called "building up inventory". We didn't understand production at first. We just worked hard on our own. Whenever something was lacking, we would call the supplier and say, "Hurry up and send me the materials." But if there is a stable inventory of parts, there won't be a situation of "waiting for the rice to cook" during production and manufacturing.

After the Spring Festival Gala, we will build two buffers, a front - end buffer and a back - end buffer. The front - end buffer is for parts, and the back - end buffer is for finished robots, which will be used by the sales team. If customers have urgent needs, they can pick up the goods at any time.

"Intelligent Emergence": What's the consideration for building up inventory?

Jiang Zheyuan: Even if there is a problem with a certain part, the front - end warehouse can support for a while. Or when the price of raw materials rises, it can also resist the impact of price fluctuations.

"Intelligent Emergence": You just said there are many "pitfalls" in robot production. What do they include?

Jiang Zheyuan: We have encountered a lot of pitfalls before. For example, we used to think that a product was done once it was completed. But the marathon (referring to the robot marathon event that Songyan Dynamics participated in 2025) made us realize that product testing is very important. Testing is to expose design problems so as to ensure the stability of product delivery.

After solving the design problems, the rest is large - scale replication. I think all the "pitfalls" ultimately bring about cognition.

"Intelligent Emergence": What's the overlap between Xiaobumi and other products? Because this determines whether the previously accumulated knowledge can be applied to Xiaobumi.

Jiang Zheyuan: All the know - how will definitely be applied to Xiaobumi, but there are also some differences.

First, Xiaobumi uses a new hardware architecture. Before, we made robots entirely based on metal. But for Xiaobumi, we have requirements for cost control and weight reduction. We use high - strength plastic, that is, plastic with glass fiber,