But even before this month, China has been turning to high-profile events to showcase its tech, including a robot half-marathon and dancing humanoid robots during its Lunar New Year’s Eve TV gala, watched by hundreds of millions of people, according to The New York Times.

Unitree Robotics brought the spotlight-grabbing machines at Beijing’s set piece robots competition on Friday, burnishing its reputation as a national champion for China’s ambitions in developing AI and humanoids.

Humanoid robots raced and punched their way through three days of a multi-sport competition at the World Humanoid Robot Games, wrapping up Sunday in Beijing. But they also toppled, crashed and collapsed,