Lao Luo, who refreshed the record of being late, and the "Tech Spring Festival Gala" full of problems

Text by | Qiu Xiaofen, Fu Chong

Edited by | Su Jianxun

Seven years after ByteDance acquired Smartisan, Luo Yonghao's annual "tech gala" officially returned today.

On the evening of December 30th, the "Luo Yonghao's Crossroads" Annual Science and Technology Innovation Sharing Conference (2025) was held at the Shanghai Xuhui West Bund International Convention and Exhibition Center.

During the more than four - hour press conference, Luo Yonghao promoted ByteDance's Douyin Select, Doubao, Thin Red Line, and six hardware products from Shenzhen.

Before the press conference, the audience had high expectations for Luo Yonghao's sharing. Within just two hours of ticket sales, tickets in six price ranges (300 - 1000 yuan) were snapped up. The number of users who watched on Douyin once reached about 5 million.

However, the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment. There were frequent mistakes in this speech. Apart from the continuous errors in the PPT content, the live - broadcast that was originally scheduled to start at 7 p.m. was finally delayed by 50 minutes. During this period, there were 20 minutes of advertisements and 30 minutes of music from the band "Five - Striped Men".

△Luo Yonghao misspelled a character "be" on the PPT. Picture: The press - conference scene

On - site, in the face of the audience shouting "refund the tickets", although Luo didn't explain the specific reason for the delay, he said, "I'd rather cut off one of my hands than let this happen", and promised to write a letter of apology to the audience after the event.

But during the mid - event, Luo Yonghao created an "Easter egg" with a drone during his speech and announced that he would refund all the ticket fees of the audience. Moreover, he would donate the entire ticket revenue of 1.6684 million yuan to the "Tai Po Wang Fuk Estate Assistance Fund" in Hong Kong in the name of the audience.

△Luo apologized to the audience several times on - site. Picture: The press - conference scene

Luo Yonghao's sharing was divided into two sessions.

First, he advertised his podcast "Luo Yonghao's Crossroads" for 20 minutes. He said that since he couldn't be a product manager, he wanted to be the "godfather of accelerators". He hoped to support startup teams in product, industrial design, human - computer interaction, marketing and other aspects. This idea was inspired by Professor Li Zexiang's XbotPark.

In the second session, Luo Yonghao shared 9 products. Six out of the 7 hardware products were from Shenzhen companies, and the software products were from ByteDance and Luo's company, "Thin Red Line".

Before the press conference, he said that this was not a "product promotion" event. The logic of product selection was "innovation", and he might even recommend some "immature products made by immature startup companies".

However, many audiences didn't buy this statement. On Weibo and Xiaohongshu, the audience complained one after another, "I watched a live - stream product promotion offline."

Luo Yonghao also kept apologizing for his poor state and the out - of - control session during the event.

Product Sharing

1. DJI NEO2 Drone: The Flying "Photographer" for Follow - up Shooting

For users who want to buy a "dumb - proof" drone for the elderly at home, Luo Yonghao recommended the DJI NEO 2, "one of the simplest drones to operate at present".

This drone can follow and shoot, take off and land on the palm, and output high - quality video directly. Without a remote control, it can be operated by gestures. Weighing only 151 grams, it is lighter than an iPhone. It can not only follow and shoot daily life but also shoot while flying at high speed during the user's outdoor extreme sports.

In terms of safety, the propeller blades of the NEO 2 are wrapped in a plastic shell. So even if it hits a wall or a person during flight, it will be "bounced" off by the plastic shell.

DJI: A drone and imaging technology company founded in Shenzhen in 2006. The company's business has developed from the initial drone system to a diversified product portfolio and has become a global leading brand in the fields of drones and handheld imaging systems.

△The blades of the DJI NEO 2 are wrapped in a plastic shell. Picture: The press - conference scene

2. Hypershell: The "Mountain - climbing Magic Tool" Worn on the Legs

It is an exoskeleton product that makes it easier for people to climb stairs and carry heavy objects. It uses ultra - light carbon fiber materials and self - developed motors, can automatically recognize different scenarios and provide targeted assistance, and can be used in extremely cold environments from - 20°C to - 60°C.

It can be seen in scenarios such as assisting the elderly in walking, helping with mountain - climbing, and even in extreme situations like outdoor rescue and exploration. According to the data released by Hypershell, when users wear it to climb slopes, their heart rate and oxygen consumption are reduced.

To prove how much easier this exoskeleton can make exercise, Luo Yonghao, a "fifty - year - old man" weighing over 200 pounds, chose to climb stairs while introducing this product. After climbing up and down an 11 - round 3.2 - meter staircase, Luo was breathing steadily. He said he was just a little hot but not tired, "as if he only weighed 140 pounds".

Hypershell Technology: A consumer - grade exoskeleton robot company located in Shenzhen, founded in 2021. The team members have work experience in leading hardware and robot companies. Through self - developed AI algorithms and lightweight design, they have reduced the product weight to several hundred grams and controlled the cost at the thousand - yuan level.

△Luo Yonghao introducing Hypershell while climbing stairs. Picture: The press - conference scene

3. TuoZhu 3D Printer: The Best Choice for Ordinary People to Enter the 3D World

According to Luo Yonghao, the TuoZhu 3D printer is "the best choice for ordinary people to enter the 3D world", making 3D printers ready - to - use out of the box with a high success rate.

To achieve this, TuoZhu founded the world's largest 3D printing enthusiast community, Maker World, where a large number of designers share free and downloadable 3D model resources, allowing people who can't model to print products with one click.

Based on this platform, many users of TuoZhu printers have "invented" many new ways of playing, such as printing 3D teaching aids for educational purposes, car models, and even the damaged historical aircraft R - 225.

TuoZhu Technology: A consumer - grade 3D printer company founded in Shenzhen in 2020. All five co - founders were former senior executives of DJI, successfully migrating the technological experience accumulated by DJI in the drone field to the 3D printing field.

△Children playing with the TuoZhu 3D printer. Picture: The press - conference scene

4. LiberNovo Qingxian: The "Ergonomic Chair" of the New Era

Expensive ergonomic chairs are not new, but Luo described them as "the crown of the old era". This ergonomic chair, which Luo considers a new - era product, supports multiple postures from sitting upright to almost lying flat and can fit the user no matter how they move.

The Qingxian ergonomic chair is equipped with four sets of linkage systems, allowing the user to automatically adjust the headrest, backrest, seat cushion, and armrests according to their sitting posture without manual adjustment.

Even if everyone has a different back curve, its electric - assisted push rods can drive the support push rods for the spine and waist according to the user's posture changes to form support. For example, when leaning back, the waist push rod will push up to avoid leaving the waist hanging.

LiberNovo: A smart office chair company founded in Shenzhen. The core team members are from companies such as DJI and Yunjing Intelligence. They hope to create an office chair that suits "thousands of different backs" through a bionic spine structure and a holographic follow - up system.

△The chair can support the waist even when lying flat. Picture: The press - conference scene

5. LICURV: The "5 - Second" Dishwasher Without Detergent

This is a small - sized dishwasher that can quickly clean dishes in 5 seconds without detergent, incubated by Li Zexiang's XbotPark Robot Base.

Through methods such as using high - pressure water to wash away rice grains stuck on the dishes and high - temperature to dissolve grease, it can achieve a sterilization rate of over 99.99%. This product is small in size, can be connected to tap water or a water tank, so it can be placed flexibly, making it suitable for single - person or two - person households.

On - site, Tim, the founder of Film Hurricane, demonstrated "a single man's meal". After eating three bowls/plates in a row, the LICURV completed the 5 - second cleaning three times in a row.

However, Luo also emphasized several times, "Don't buy it yet" (even if you're a single man who hates doing the dishes) because its actual performance is not stable enough. Luo also emphasized that, in line with the "chivalrous spirit" of the tech industry, everyone should wait and see or look forward to these innovative products.

Second Curve Technology: Founded in 2022, incubated in the XbotPark Robot Base in Dongguan, Guangdong. The average age of its startup team is only 25 years old. They transplanted a "cavitation jet" technology used for submarine cleaning into the dishwasher, targeting the personal instant - cleaning scenario.

△Single man Tim and Luo demonstrating the 5 - second dish - washing. Picture: The press - conference scene

6. Yingling Antigravity: The Bird's - eye View Experience Device

This is the world's first panoramic drone. Previously, to shoot a video with a panoramic drone effect, usually two to six action cameras had to be tied to the drone and then synthesized by algorithms on the computer, which was a cumbersome process.

According to Luo Yonghao, the Yingling A1 is a "drone with wings". Its operation is very simple. You just point your hand, and the drone will fly there.

After putting on the VR headset, users can experience the bird's - eye view. After shooting, users can draw their own flight trajectories to generate a full - view picture of the flight.

Luo Yonghao said that this has completely changed the logic of aerial photography.

Insta360: A smart imaging technology company founded in 2015, focusing on smart imaging devices such as panoramic cameras and action cameras. Insta360 has ranked first in the global panoramic camera market for 8 consecutive years and was listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in June this year.

△Luo demonstrating the flight and shooting of the Yingling A1 on - site. Picture: The press - conference scene

7. New Version of Doubao: The AI That Helps You Argue Well

To promote the new version of Doubao, Luo Yonghao had an argument with Doubao about "whether Smartisan phones were well - made". Doubao could be interrupted at any time, responded extremely quickly, and even came up with funny remarks from time to time - it mentioned "Zealer", with which it had a debate before, and Luo was instantly broken.

During the demonstration of the simultaneous interpretation function, Doubao's translation results were also very accurate, with a highlight of only a 2 - second delay.

Luo Yonghao also tried Doubao's voice input method. In a closed chamber, he lowered his voice to a very low level and tested the voice input methods of several companies. It was found that the input methods of many manufacturers were confused in the low - volume scenario, while Doubao still performed stably.

ByteDance: An internet technology company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, with its headquarters in Beijing. In August 2023, it launched the AI product "Doubao" App, which has become the first independent AI application in China with a daily active user count exceeding 100 million.