During China's Dragon Boat Festival, a tradition celebrated for more than 2,000 years, humanoid robots joined demonstrations, rowing dragon boats in a display of AI and robotics. The event highlighted that rowing requires synchronisation, balance, and coordinated movement challenging even for humans. The spectacle showed how humanoid robotics is advancing in China, with researchers testing machines in dynamic real-world environments. The Dragon Boat Festival was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. The robots performed coordinated rowing movements requiring continuous adjustment of posture, force, and rhythm, demonstrating progress in motion control systems. Researchers view such activities as valuable tests for embodied AI because they require complex physical tasks. Modern humanoid robots rely on sensors, computer vision, motion-planning algorithms, and real-time feedback systems. As reported by CGTN, earlier in 2026, humanoid robots developed by companies including Unitree Robotics demonstrated advanced martial arts routines during the Spring Festival Gala, executing complex sequences involving balance recovery, rapid directional changes, and coordinated group movements.