Unitree Robotics is on the Spring Festival Gala again, but this time it's going to "take on three opponents".

A month ago, there were rumors in the market that various humanoid robot companies were gearing up to participate in the Spring Festival Gala.

To borrow the slogan of the talent show for the Spring Festival Gala, it would be: "I want to be on the Spring Festival Gala. What do you think?"

Unexpectedly, the answer turned out to be "All can".

Just a few days ago, Magic Atom, Galaxy Universal, and Unitree Technology successively announced their cooperation with the Spring Festival Gala.

Although this is different from the previous rumors - previously, Zhipu Robotics was rumored to have offered 60 million yuan, and Unitree Technology was even rumored to have invested 100 million yuan. But judging from the current results, there will only be more robots on this year's Spring Festival Gala stage.

Not long ago, there was even a rumor that a total of 5 embodied intelligence companies "grouped up" to participate in the Spring Festival Gala, with a total sponsorship amount reaching 500 million yuan.

This can't help but remind people of the scene in the TV series "My Own Swordsman" where all the shopkeepers and bosses vied to sponsor the "Chicken King Competition":

Although the Spring Festival Gala has always been a place where sponsors and partners gather, but three robot companies participating in the Spring Festival Gala at the same time. Will there be a separate category for robots in the Spring Festival Gala program awards, in addition to language and music programs?

Looking closely at the titles of the three companies for the Spring Festival Gala, they seem to be different: Unitree is the "Robot Partner", Galaxy Universal is the "Designated Embodied Large Model Robot", and Magic Atom is the "Strategic Partner of Intelligent Robots".

Strategic, partner, designated... Each title seems to be very important. But for most audiences, these terms are still abstract: What exactly are they going to do? After all, compared with technology demonstrations, people are more used to caring about which star stands in the C - position, just like the programs of the Spring Festival Gala.

So, in the "Robot King Competition" of the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse, who is really standing in the C - position?

Galaxy Universal: Working on the Spring Festival Gala?

In the past year, the biggest question surrounding humanoid robots has never changed - Can they really be sent to factories to work and thus truly achieve commercialization?

In the past year, domestic humanoid robots have had many high - light moments: robot marathons, robot fights, robot dancing, robot backflips... In the pictures that hit the hot search again and again, various manufacturers tried their best to show the flexibility and fine control ability of their robots, repeatedly proving to the outside world one thing: "Robots can do what humans can do."

But the problem is that the market has never cared about the completion of actions, but the completion of work. The commercial scenario is not the recruitment of athletes by the national sports team, but working in factories, such as screwing, moving boxes, sorting materials, and working night shifts.

In this context, those "high - light moments" that have been repeatedly played in the past have never really responded to the anxiety of "whether they can make money and whether they can be scaled up".

It seems that in order to respond to the market's doubts, the director group of the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse first arranged for Galaxy Universal robots to work directly in the studio.

According to the official announcement of China Media Group, in this Spring Festival Gala, Galaxy Universal robots are not simply "performers" like Unitree H1, but are defined as the first "Designated Embodied Large Model Robot" in the history of the Spring Festival Gala. They will focus on demonstrating their autonomous decision - making ability in complex environments, high - efficiency collaboration level, and interaction ability for service scenarios.

Beijing Daily reported that Galaxy Universal needs to deal with "the complex and changeable stage environment like the Spring Festival Gala", completing various interactions and tasks designed by the director group: from recognizing stage markings, cooperating with actors in performances, to dealing with emergencies, striving to "fully demonstrate the advanced performance of the embodied large model".

Compared with "celebrities" like Unitree and Zhipu, this company, which was not "high - frequency appearing" during the humanoid robot boom in 2025, is indeed not a well - known "star" to the public. But in the industrial scenario, Galaxy Universal has already "entered the factory".

On January 19, Galaxy Universal released the world's first embodied intelligent robot Galbot S1 with a load capacity of 100 catties and real autonomous operation ability, and announced that this model will officially "work" at CATL.

It is reported that Galaxy Universal has established cooperative relationships with many leading companies such as Bosch in Germany, CATL, Toyota, BAIC Group, SAIC Group, and Zeekr. Its embodied intelligent large model has participated in the flexible manufacturing process in many industrial scenarios such as automatic quality inspection, material handling, and workpiece sorting.

And in more consumer - oriented and down - to - earth real scenarios, Galaxy Universal is also gradually "taking up positions":

In March 2025, at the China Science and Technology Week, Galbot G1 under Galaxy Universal fetched and delivered thousands of cups of coffee for the participating audiences, with a task success rate of 99.97%;

In June, Galaxy Universal began to cooperate with many top - level hospitals such as Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, West China Hospital Group, and Peking University School of Medicine, undertaking tasks such as ward drug delivery, pharmacy management, drug sorting, and night - time on - duty;

In August, Galaxy Universal launched the world's first fully autonomous robot service pop - up store "Galaxy Space Capsule" in Haidian Dayang City, Beijing, realizing 24/7 unmanned operation.

It seems that Galaxy Universal is going to take the path of a strong - performing company in this Spring Festival Gala.

Magic Atom: Selling Emotional Value?

But whether it is a factory, a hospital, or a convenience store, in essence, they are all highly standardized and process - oriented scenarios. The ultimate expectation of the market for humanoid robots is not just to be competent for one specific position, but to appear in various environments with sufficiently generalized intelligence and even enter every household.

Therefore, if Galaxy Universal is trying to respond to the commercialization problem by "working", then Magic Atom is more like using a consumer electronics mindset to show another possibility of humanoid robot commercialization on the Spring Festival Gala.

According to media reports, as the "Strategic Partner of Intelligent Robots" for the Spring Festival Gala, Magic Atom will focus on presenting "the appearance design that shows technological aesthetics and vivid and swift physical emotional interaction". Compared with the more industrial - oriented keywords such as "autonomous decision - making" and "complex tasks", such expressions obviously emphasize more on visual experience, user experience, and affinity.

And "physical emotional interaction" points directly to Magic Atom's small humanoid robot MagicBot Z1. According to the official introduction, MagicBot Z1 can sense human emotions through voice conversations, waving hands and other means, and is positioned as the world's first bipedal humanoid robot focusing on "emotional interaction".

Some netizens joked that they originally expected Unitree H1 to be on the Spring Festival Gala again, calling on the large language model to shout "Dear audience friends, I miss you so much!" on behalf of teacher Feng Gong. Now it seems that it is MagicBot Z1 that is trying to please the audience and provide emotional value like a sketch.

To some extent, Magic Atom has chosen a very realistic path: since humanoid robots are still difficult to stably replace human labor in the short term, then answer another more realistic question first - Can consumer - grade humanoid robots support an independent commercialization route?

After the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Snake, many bloggers at home and abroad have evaluated consumer - grade robots like Unitree G1 in the price range of ten thousand yuan. The evaluations are highly consistent: in the family scenario, they are more like a "big toy". But the problem is that toys are not without commercial value, especially when they can continuously provide emotional feedback.

Therefore, "working in factories" may not be the only way out for humanoid robots.

According to the data of Business Research Insights, the global market size of AI companion robots was about 1.482 billion US dollars in 2025, and it is expected to grow to about 6.385 billion US dollars by 2034. A research report from Guotai Junan Securities estimated that in the Chinese market alone, the potential demand for companion robots among the elderly is about 420 billion yuan, and among the youth is about 500 billion yuan.

In addition to companionship, a report from Research Nester also pointed out that humanoid robots in the education and entertainment sectors will maintain a compound annual growth rate of about 44.7% between 2024 and 2035, and the application scenarios cover interactive teaching, language learning, and personalized tutoring.

The requirements for "stability" and "efficiency" in these fields are much lower than those in the industrial scenario, but they are extremely sensitive to "interaction" and "emotional response".

Under this logic, the product positioning of Magic Atom seems reasonable. In addition to MagicBot, Magic Atom's robot dog MagicDog is also positioned as a family - companion electronic pet, emphasizing environmental adaptability and interaction experience rather than clear and rigid work tasks.

Therefore, before humanoid robots become family butlers with highly generalized intelligence, entering every household with functions such as companionship for the elderly and children and learning tutoring may be the first step to make the market accept humanoid robots.

Unitree Technology: What's the Point of Being on the Spring Festival Gala Again?

Whether it is Galaxy Universal or Magic Atom, their different positions on the Spring Festival Gala stage, although seemingly pointing to completely different commercialization scenarios, actually have the same goal -

Before the industry truly welcomes its "iPhone Moment", it is necessary to continuously expand the market's imagination space for the humanoid robot track and maintain the industry's popularity.

For Unitree Technology, which has been on the Spring Festival Gala for two consecutive years, this is even more urgent.

After the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Snake, Unitree Technology almost became the public's first entry point for the concept of "humanoid robots". Then, at the end of March last year, Unitree released a video of its G1 robot completing a standing side - flip, becoming the world's first humanoid robot to achieve this action.

Less than 12 hours after the release of this video, Boston Dynamics quickly released a picture of its Atlas robot completing a side - flip, forming a highly symbolic "direct response".

This moment was Unitree Technology's second high - light moment after the Spring Festival Gala - it not only stood in the center of the global stage, but can even be said to have briefly surpassed Boston Dynamics, the pioneer of the industry, in terms of technology demonstration.

Subsequently, Unitree Technology launched a robot fighting project in April, leading the trend of humanoid robot fighting. For a while, fighting actions became the industry benchmark for measuring the flexibility and control ability of robots, and many manufacturers would quote them when releasing new products.

In the capital market, Unitree Technology also stands at the forefront of the wave.

In June 2025, Unitree completed a 700 million yuan Series C financing, with a post - investment valuation of 12 billion yuan; in July, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced that it had entered the listing counseling stage, with CITIC Securities as the sponsor; in November, the IPO listing counseling work was completed.

Relevant data shows that as of the end of 2025, Unitree Technology had completed a total of 10 rounds of financing, with a total amount of more than 1.5 billion yuan. In September last year, the market even spread the news that its IPO valuation might be as high as 50 billion yuan.

However, in 2026, an unconfirmed piece of news about Unitree Technology seemed to pour cold water on the entire industry:

On January 4, the rumor that "Unitree Technology's green channel for A - share listing was stopped" quickly spread in the technology and investment circles. Although Unitree came out to refute the rumor on the same day, saying that it had not applied for any "green channel" and the listing process was proceeding normally.

But the fact that this rumor could quickly go viral itself shows that the market has already assumed that there are potential bubbles in the high - profile humanoid robot track.

This sentiment is not unfounded. As early as November last year, the National Development and Reform Commission publicly stated that it was necessary to be vigilant against risks such as the concentrated listing of highly repetitive products and the squeezing of R & D space in the humanoid robot field.

Therefore, some industry insiders judge that 2026 may be the real reshuffle year for the robot industry:

No longer like in 2025 when "almost all companies could raise funds", among the hundreds of domestic humanoid robot companies, only 10 - 20 may remain in the end. Some will take the route of general - purpose platform - type companies, and some will focus on vertical application scenarios.

In this context, the lineup of this year's Spring Festival Gala is even more meaningful:

Unitree Technology is on the stage for the second time, stabilizing its position as a "Robot Partner"; Galaxy Universal, as the "Designated Embodied Large Model Robot", demonstrates its industrial and service - end capabilities; Magic Atom appears as a "Strategic Partner of Intelligent Robots", testing the waters of family companionship and emotional interaction.

They are not performers competing for the C - position, but are jointly sketching the future picture of the industry. Compared with a single technological spectacle, this is more like a pre - rehearsal for the mature stage of the industry.

Just like Feng Gong's words "I miss you so much" every Spring Festival Gala, it is also crucial for Unitree to continuously stand on the stage; and for the entire industry, the spotlight of the market must not be extinguished.

And the latest news is that the humanoid robot startup company Songyan Power will also be on the Spring Festival Gala, becoming the humanoid robot partner of the 2026 Spring Festival Gala, which means there will be a rare scene of 4 robot companies competing on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse.

Perhaps, no robot company will truly stand in the C - position on the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse. The real intention of this grand event has never been to remember a certain company, but to make the entire humanoid robot industry, which is still growing and needs popularity and patience, firmly hold the attention of the market and capital.

Reference materials:

Kungfu Finance, "Urgent Rumor Refutation! Unitree's Big Oolong at the Beginning of the Year, Who Was Scared?"

Yicai Global, "Only 10 of the 100 Humanoid Robot Companies in 2026 May Remain"

This article is from the WeChat public account "Golden Horn Finance", author: Chester. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.