BACKFLIPPING Chinese robots with slick kung fu moves have stunned audiences in a terrifying stage debut showcasing their power and athleticism.
Two dozen nimble humanoids performed martial arts, parkour and breakdancing as part of jaw-dropping Lunar New Year celebrations broadcast on Chinese state television.
The synchronised robot army performed alongside children in an unbelievable display of Beijing’s technological might.
The mind-blowing performance even saw the bots wield nunchucks and swords in a routine which fused traditional martial arts with advanced robotics.
They then flipped off a vault like Olympic gymnasts proving their agility, balance and precision.
The show was a stark upgrade from last year’s awkward display where they could barely wave a red handkerchief.
“You can’t imagine how fast Chinese humanoid robots are evolving,” the Chinese embassy in the US posted on Facebook.
The yearly gala is watched by hundreds of millions of people and is the country’s biggest TV event of the year.
It’s seen as a platform for Beijing’s propaganda efforts to the rest of the world.
Wang Xingxing, chief executive of robotics company Unitree, said the plan was to build up to 20,000 humanoids this year, The Telegraph reported.
In the past, the bots have been sold to car manufacturing companies.
Unitree intends to list on the Shanghai stock exchange at a valuation of around $7bn (£5bn).
Galbot, Noetix and MagicLab robots were also part of the event.
It comes amid the release of a bombshell EU police report which predicts that robots could groom children and terror drones could cripple cities, all within the next decade.
The 48-page study by Europol envisions angry unemployed mobs rioting against machines they blame for stealing their jobs.
Cops armed with “robo freezer guns” and “nano net grenades” are pictured blasting swarms of terrorist drones threatening to cut off electricity and water supplies.
Critics say these Hollywood scenes are over the top, but Brussels insists they are “plausible future scenarios”.
Researchers sketch out a world where robots are a “fixture of daily life across Europe, gliding silently through shopping centres, delivering parcels to fifth-floor flats and cleaning public transport platforms by night.”
The report adds: “In this uneasy climate, even minor malfunctions, such as a hospital care robot administering the wrong medication, are magnified into national scandals, fuelling populist calls to ‘put people first’.”
Last year, a pack of bloodthirsty robo-wolves stormed a battlefield armed with automatic rifles and powered by AI, designed to help Beijing land an amphibious assault on the neighbouring island of Taiwan.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) revealed that the techno-hounds will be part of a new strategy for arriving on the shores of Taiwan.
Chilling footage shown on state TV shows the cyber wolves charging ahead – spraying bullets while being flanked by Chinese soldiers.
Humanoid robots, mass-produced by the millions in China and sold to the West as domestic assistants, can easily be turned against their masters with a single word command, experts have warned.
One hacked machine could then act as a “Trojan Horse” and turn other devices against their owners, creating an army of infected robots controlled by evil Xi Jinping.
It’s thought China’s ability to mass produce millions of dirt-cheap weapons and robots places Xi in an advantageous position to be able to control them.
Security researchers have warned about the innate vulnerabilities in these household helpers, designed to make chores easier for the owner, which can be manipulated by just a simple verbal command.
A compromised robot could become a violent threat to family members, sabotage production lines or steal sensitive information, while creating a chain-reaction attack with nearby machines.
At a recent tech convention in Shanghai, cyber-security research group DARKNAVY transformed a domestically produced humanoid robot priced at $14,200 into a “mobile spy”, which launched a physical attack on a mannequin.
