New AI Humanoid Robots SHOCKED The Internet: Unitree x Tesla Optimus x Figure

China just dropped a bombshell in robotics. Humanoid robots dancing at the Spring Festival Gala perfectly in sync with human performers. Meanwhile, figure AI just walked away from OpenAI to build its own in house AI Tesla's Optimus is facing a new challenger in the robot hand game. And Nvidia is training humanoids to move like pro athletes. The race for the most advanced AI powered humanoid is heating up fast and things are getting intense. Let's break it all down. First up, let's chat about China's Spring Festival Gala, where a group of 16 humanoid robots from a company called Unitree took the stage. They performed this traditional Yang kou dance alongside 16 human dancers, tossing and catching handkerchiefs, spinning around in sync and not missing a beat. The crazy part is that most humanoid robots out there switch struggle to stay balanced if you just give them a little shove. But these H Hun robots, they were not only dancing, but also flipping handkerchiefs in the air and catching them again, all while maintaining stability. That is no small feat. Now people are comparing them to Tesla's Optimus robot. If you remember, Optimus had some pretty shaky demos when it came to walking in a straight line or picking things up. The Unitree H hand stands about 1.8 meters tall, around 5 foot 11 and and weighs 47 kilograms. That's about 104 pounds. They spent three months training with AI using laser slam for positioning. This helped them handle stage nuances like little gaps in the floor and the rapid changing of dance formations. These robots were officially rolled out in August 2023, even making an appearance at Nvidia's GTC conference in 2024. Each H1 robot robot sells for roughly 650,000 yuan. That's about US$90,000. Folks have been pointing out how China is stepping up big time in AI and robotics, especially after that AI assistant. Deepseek also made headlines. India, for instance, is keeping a close watch on Deep Seq's activities. Worried about Data Security and Elon Musk, he gave his own not so flattering opinion on Deep Seek in implying he wasn't super impressed. But here's the kicker. While the spotlight is on China's new AI and robotics achievements, other companies around the globe are making big moves too. Like Figure AI. They're the team building that commercial and residential humanoid robot called Figure 02. They raised around $675 million last year, boosting their valuation to $2.6 billion. And so far, they've raised a total of $1.5 billion. The big shock is that figure just Announced on X, formerly Twitter, that they're ditching their deal with OpenAI. Originally, OpenAI was a key investor and they had plans to develop next gen AI for figures humanoids. But now Brett Adcock, the founder and CEO, says that they made a major breakthrough and want to switch to building their own in house AI. AI. According to him, you can't just outsource the type of embodied AI you need to run a robot in real time. That's part of the reason they're going all in on an end to end system. Interestingly, OpenAI is also backing another humanoid robot startup in Norway called 1X. And on top of that, OpenAI just filed a new trademark application that references humanoid robots that that can learn, communicate and even entertain people. So it looks like they're not giving up on robotic hardware projects themselves. Meanwhile, Figure's new approach might be focusing on factory uses first. BMW, for instance, began trying out figure robots in a South Carolina factory, which is a pretty big test site. If successful, that could be huge for large scale industrial deployment. Brett Adcock is also hinting at un unveiling something no one has ever seen on a humanoid in the next 30 days. So yeah, definitely a lot of hype going on there now. In other robot news, Elon Musk jumped on X to talk about how intricate Tesla's optimus hand is calling it more complex than a Faberge egg. That's when clone robotics chimed in claiming that their own humanoid hand is actually lighter since they use artificial muscles instead of metal motors. Stronger and cheaper to produce. They even joke that it's soft enough to give comfy massages and hugs. So there's definitely a rivalry brewing in terms of who can build the best robot hand. Clone basically said their muscle based approach beats Tesla's motor based design any day. Fewer parts, less weight, more strength. It's a bold statement, but we'll have to see how that plays out in real world testing. Meanwhile, there's yet another big development in humanoid robotics, this time from Nvidia and Carnegie Mellon University. They're working on a new training framework called asap, which stands for Aligning Simulation and Real World Physics for learning Agile Humanoid Whole body skills. The researchers basically want humanoid robots to mimic top athletes. So they fed their system videos of big sports stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James doing his Silencer celebration and Kobe Bryant's legendary fadeaway shot. They even taught the bot some dance moves inspired by K pop star Rose. A tool called Tram converted these normal videos into three dimensional motion data. After that the robots learned in simulation first through something called reinforcement learning and then the team refined them to handle real life physics. One interesting challenge is the so called Real2 Sim2 Real Gap robots can do well in a computer sim, but when you throw them into the physical world, factors like motor heat and mechanical stress can cause them to fail. So the ASEP framework involves the robots practicing in a simulator, collecting data from real world attempts, even if those attempts are messy, and then adjusting the simulation to match what actually happened. They use something called a delta action model which basically patches up the differences between the simulator's physics engine and the the real world. That way the next time the robot tries that jump shot or that dance spin, the simulation is more accurate and the robot's moves become smoother and more lifelike. The big takeaway is that robots could be a lot more agile and expressive if we can handle all the physics quirks that show up when metal or muscle based actuators. If you're clone robotics meets real world friction, gravity and torque limitations. The study also pointed out that these advanced movements can be brutal on hardware. Overheating motors and stressed out metal or plastic pieces lead to frequent breakdowns. 2G line robots were damaged during the tests. The researchers also said that future approaches might integrate damage awares policies that adjust on the fly to keep the robot from blowing a motor. It's also worth noting how much time and money can go into making these humanoids truly human. Like Unitree's H1 is priced around $90,000 while figure is sinking billions of dollars into their broad vision. Elon's Tesla is doing the same, funneling loads of resources to develop Optimus. Some companies are focusing on commercial tasks first like factory work or warehouse jobs because businesses have a higher willingness and budget to pay for these futuristic helpers. Others like 1x are already pushing toward making robots useful in the home. Which is is a whole other challenge because you're dealing with everyday random tasks, kids running around or pets underfoot. So basically China is pushing AI and robotics hard. Unitree's dancing humanoids are wowing everyone and shorter training times mean these robots are improving fast. Meanwhile, figure AI split from OpenAI so they can control every aspect of their humanoid's hardware and software. We've also got that friendly rivalry over robot hands. Musk's motor based design versus clone robotics muscle powered approach. On top of that, Nvidia and CMU are teaching humanoids to move like pro athletes using their ASAP framework which bridges simulation and real world practice. All this competition is great for speeding up advances in humanoid AI, whether it's perfecting robot hands or doing backflips while carrying fragile items. We'll see more big reveals soon. Figure's Secret project Tesla's Next Optimus Update or whatever Nvidia and CMU come up with next. That's your quick roundup of all things AI and robotics. Let me know what you think. Did Figure make the right move ditching OpenAI? Do you trust muscle based actuators more than motors? Stick around for more updates. SA.