Inside Shanghai's Robot Carnival: China's Push to Make Humanoids Everyday

Key points

• China produced nearly 90% of the more than 13,000 humanoid robots delivered worldwide last year.
• Embodied AI, the idea of putting artificial intelligence into physical moving machines, is a stated priority in China's current five-year national plan.
• Humanoid robots performed publicly in multiple Chinese cities on the same weekend, including bipedal robots running a half-marathon in Beijing.
• High prices, short battery life, and safety concerns around heavy two-legged machines remain real barriers to widespread use globally.

On a public holiday on the outskirts of Shanghai, an 11-year-old boy can't stop showing strangers his new robotic dog. It's a gift his mother just bought at a robotics carnival hosted by a research and development hub that houses over 100 companies building machines of every kind. The dog is attempting a handstand. The boy is delighted.

The scene is festive, but the stakes behind it are serious.

Why is China hosting robot shows for the public?

China is trying to make robots feel normal. The country has made embodied AI, the idea of wiring artificial intelligence into physical machines that can move through the real world, a central piece of its latest five-year national plan.

The carnival format is part of that push. Families watch remote-controlled robots fire water beads at each other in a makeshift ring. Volunteers teach children how to guide a four-legged robot up a flight of stairs. A product manager from a company called DexForce stands near a humanoid robot brewing coffee and explains that these machines "can free people from physical work and mundane chores." A few booths away, robotic arms attempt to fold a basket of T-shirts.

The exposure is deliberate. Getting ordinary people comfortable with robots in person matters if companies want them to eventually accept robots at work or at home.

What does China's lead actually look like?

The numbers are striking. Nearly 90% of the more than 13,000 humanoid robots, machines with two arms and two legs built roughly in the shape of a human body, delivered globally last year were made in China, as MIT Technology Review reported.

This is not just a manufacturing story. Chinese firms are competing on design and capability too. On the same weekend as the Shanghai carnival, humanoids performed for crowds in shopping malls and tourist sites across several other Chinese cities. In Beijing, bipedal robots ran a half-marathon.

Back in Shanghai's main tent, a humanoid in a glittery top performs drunken boxing, a traditional martial arts style. Another does a front flip. A row of small robotic lions waits in the wings. The crowd chants for more.

Should ordinary people expect to see robots like this soon?

Not quite yet. Progress outside China has been slow, and real obstacles remain.

Humanoid robots are heavy and have to balance on two legs, which creates genuine safety risks. Batteries run out quickly. Prices are high. Many roboticists still question whether the human body shape is actually the right design for most tasks.

What China's carnival circuit shows is confidence, not a finished product. The technology is real, improving, and backed by government policy and serious investment. Whether humanoids become a fixture in homes and workplaces, or stay a spectacular show act, depends on problems that public enthusiasm alone cannot solve.

For now, the crowd chants, the robot flips, and a boy with a robotic dog won't stop grinning.