The 2025 CCTV Gala showed the world what China plans for the next decade
In January 2025, over 700 million people watched the Spring Festival Gala, CCTV's traditional New Year's Eve celebration. Among musical numbers and acrobats, dozens of humanoid robots from Unitree danced in perfect sync on the main stage. The moment was calculated. CCTV does not put anything on that stage by accident: every performance reflects the strategic priorities of the central government.
The message was clear. China wants humanoid robots to be as common as smartphones in less than a decade. And the companies that appeared on that stage — or those racing to catch up — are at the forefront of an industrial race that will redefine what "labor" means in factories, hospitals, and warehouses around the world.
In this article, we map the five Chinese humanoid robot companies that deserve attention. They are not lab promises. They are companies with functional prototypes, published prices, and mass production schedules.
Unitree Robotics: the $16,000 robot that stole the show at the Gala
Based in Hangzhou, Unitree is probably the most well-known robotics company outside of China today. Founded in 2016 by Wang Xingxing, a former DJI engineer, the company started with quadruped robots — the famous "dog robots" that went viral on social media. The leap to humanoids came in 2024 with the H1 and soon after with the G1.
The Unitree G1 stands 1.32 meters tall, weighs 35 kg, and has 23 degrees of freedom in its joints. It comes equipped with a depth camera, 3D LiDAR, an 8-core CPU, and a battery with approximately 2 hours of autonomy. The EDU version for research can reach 43 degrees of freedom and includes three-finger hands with force control and tactile sensors.
The price is the game-changer: starting at $16,000. For reference, Boston Dynamics' Atlas is not commercially available, and Tesla's Optimus still doesn't have a confirmed price. Unitree positioned the G1 as the first humanoid robot affordable enough to be purchased by university labs, not just billion-dollar corporations.
The Gala presentation solidified Unitree as the showcase of Chinese robotic ambitions. The company is preparing to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, seeking capital to expand production. The stated goal is to achieve industrial-scale production by 2027.
Xpeng Robotics and IRON: when EV manufacturers become robot companies
XPeng, known for its electric vehicles that compete with Tesla in China, entered the humanoid race with IRON. Unveiled in November 2024, the humanoid robot was developed by the company's robotics division, leveraging the same artificial intelligence platform used in the brand's autonomous vehicles.
IRON stands approximately 1.78 meters tall and was designed for tasks in both industrial and domestic settings. XPeng argues that experience with autonomous vehicles gives a real competitive advantage: perception, navigation, and decision-making algorithms have already been trained with billions of kilometers of real-world data. The robot inherits this foundation.
He Xiaopeng, founder of XPeng, has publicly stated that he believes humanoid robots will be more relevant than electric vehicles for the company's future. The production target is ambitious: XPeng plans to start mass manufacturing from 2026, leveraging factory infrastructure that already produces hundreds of thousands of vehicles per year. The target price for commercial versions has not been confirmed, but the company has indicated it is aiming for ranges below $30,000.
XPeng's strategy reflects a pattern repeating across China: electric vehicle manufacturers have realized that humanoid robots use the same components — electric motors, batteries, LiDAR sensors, AI chips. The supply chain already exists.
Galaxy General Robot: Beijing's bet on general-purpose robotics
Galactic General Robot, or 银河通用机器人 Yínhé Tōngyòng Jīqìrén, is one of the best-funded startups in China's robotics ecosystem. Founded in 2023 in Beijing, the company has raised over 1 billion yuan in investment rounds that included funds linked to the Beijing municipal government and strategic investors from the manufacturing sector.
Galaxy's focus is on developing general-purpose robots — machines not designed for a single task but that can be trained for different functions in factories, warehouses, and hospitals. The company uses generative artificial intelligence models to train its robots, following an approach the industry calls "foundation models for robotics."
Galaxy's first commercial model was demonstrated in pilot factories in Beijing in 2025, performing object manipulation and quality inspection tasks. The company has not yet announced prices for public sale, but positions its robots in the B2B market, with leasing contracts for factories. The plan is to reach production of thousands of units per year by 2027.
Galaxy represents an important trend: companies born after 2022 that arrive with heavy funding, access to AI chips, and a base of engineers trained at Chinese tech giants like Baidu, Huawei, and Tencent.
Songyan (松延动力): robots for the Chinese assembly line
Songyan, or 松延动力 Sōngyán Dònglì, is less known outside of China, but has attracted attention for a specific reason: total focus on industrial applications. While other companies dabble in the domestic and entertainment markets, Songyan designs humanoids to work alongside workers on assembly lines.
The Shenzhen-based company develops its own robotic actuators and joints — components that represent between 40% and 60% of the cost of a humanoid robot. By verticalizing actuator production, Songyan can reduce costs and control the quality of critical components. This model mirrors what BYD did with batteries: manufacture internally what others buy from third parties.
Songyan's robots were tested in factories in the Pearl River Delta region in 2025, performing repetitive tasks such as parts assembly, packaging, and material transport. The company does not disclose public prices, but industry sources indicate that industrial leasing contracts start at around 8,000 to 10,000 yuan per month (approximately $1,100 to $1,400), a figure competitive with the cost of a temporary worker in some Chinese provinces.
The key data here is economic: when the monthly leasing cost of a robot approaches a worker's salary, the equation changes. And Songyan is betting that this equation has already closed in specific sectors.
Magic Atom (奇异摩动): compact humanoids for services and retail
Magic Atom, or 奇异摩动 Qíyì Mó Dòng, is a Shenzhen startup that differentiates itself by the size of its robots. While most companies aim to create adult-sized humanoids, Magic Atom develops compact models around 1.2 to 1.4 meters tall, aimed at the service sector: reception, customer service, guides in commercial spaces, and support in hospital environments.
The company presented prototypes at technology fairs in Shenzhen and Shanghai throughout 2024 and 2025, with demonstrations of voice interaction in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. The robots use natural language models to converse with customers and execute simple commands, such as guiding visitors to a specific floor of a shopping center.
Magic Atom's target price for service models is between $10,000 and $20,000, a range that allows it to compete with digital kiosks and self-service terminals. The bet is that a robot that moves, speaks, and gestures has more impact on the customer experience than a static screen.
Magic Atom raised funding from venture capital funds focused on robotics and AI in the second half of 2024 and plans to start commercial sales in 2026, beginning with the domestic Chinese market before expanding to Southeast Asia.
The government's plan: from policy directive to industrial schedule
None of these companies operate in a vacuum. In November 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) published official guidelines for the development of humanoid robots in China. The document sets clear targets: by 2025, China should have an initial technological system for humanoid robots; by 2027, the technology is expected to reach maturity for mass production; and by 2030, humanoid robots should be integrated into sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, and healthcare.
Local governments followed with their own incentives. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou launched investment funds and industrial parks dedicated to humanoid robotics between 2024 and 2025. Beijing alone allocated over 10 billion yuan in sector incentives. Shenzhen created the "Humanoid Robot Industrial Park" in the Bao'an district.
The timeline is relevant for understanding the pace:
- November 2023: MIIT publishes national guidelines for humanoid robots
- 2024: More than 30 Chinese companies demonstrate functional prototypes
- January 2025: Unitree and other robots appear at the CCTV Gala and at CES in Las Vegas
- 2025-2026: First commercial sales and pilot programs in factories
- 2027: Government target for industrial-scale production
- 2030: Expected integration into multiple sectors of the economy
The CCTV Gala was more than entertainment. It was a public signal that the central government endorses humanoid robotics as a strategic priority — on the same level as it treated electric vehicles a decade ago.
What this means for Brazil and Latin American industry
Brazil is China's largest trading partner in Latin America and imports growing volumes of Chinese technology — from BYD electric vehicles to Longi solar panels. The question now emerging in industrial circles is: when will Chinese humanoid robots arrive at Brazilian factories?
The most likely scenario is that entry will first occur in sectors with high automation demand and recruitment difficulties: logistics at large distribution centers, vehicle assemblers (especially those already Chinese-operated in Brazil, such as BYD and GWM), and agricultural processing industries.
The prices we are seeing — $16,000 for a Unitree G1, leasing contracts of $1,400/month — make the equation attractive for Brazilian companies that spend R$5,000 to R$8,000 per month in labor costs per employee on night or hazardous shifts. It's not about replacing all workers, but filling vacancies that are already open.
For Brazilian professionals, the signal is clear: the window to specialize in maintenance, programming, and management of industrial robotics is open now. Whoever understands this technology in the next three to five years will be positioned for one of the most in-demand professions of the 2030s.
From TV stage to factory floor: the transition has already begun
The spectacle at the CCTV Gala was symbolic, but the numbers behind it are concrete. Five companies with distinct approaches — from Unitree's aggressive pricing to XPeng's assembler infrastructure, from Galaxy's state funding to Songyan's focus on actuators and Magic Atom's service robots — form an ecosystem that exists in no other country with this density and speed.
China took less than a decade to dominate the global electric vehicle market. The playbook for humanoid robots appears to follow the same script: clear industrial policy, abundant financing, a domestic supply chain, and fierce competition among dozens of companies. Those who follow China know that when this pattern forms, the results appear faster than the Western market expects.
This topic was featured in China to Watch, where we track China's technological, economic, and geopolitical trends. If you want to understand what is happening in the world's second-largest economy before it makes headlines, follow our publications.
