At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, the spotlight turned to humanoid helpers as Chinese company Agibot unveiled two nimble robots, the A2 and X2, designed for everything from giving directions to learning your TikTok dances. The prototypes impressed onlookers by walking, waving, and performing surprisingly fluid dance routines, signaling a major step towards practical, interactive robots in public and private spaces.
The display was more than just a clever party trick. According to a report from Engadget, which had a team on the ground at the show, the robots represent a flexible platform for human-robot interaction. While an Agibot representative initially controlled them via a dedicated controller, the company confirmed the units are built for autonomy. Once their onboard sensors map an environment, they can navigate and operate independently. Agibot, which has already shipped several thousand robots in China, plans to bring them to the United States later this year.
Each model has a distinct personality and purpose. The larger, roughly human-sized A2 is envisioned as a hospitality ambassador. Picture it greeting visitors at a museum or conference (like CES itself), providing directions, and even escorting guests to their destination. During demonstrations, it showcased smooth upper-body movements, dancing primarily with its arms while maintaining a stable base.
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Its smaller sibling, the X2, is the more dynamic performer. With larger “feet” for enhanced stability, it demonstrated a greater range of motion, including more nimble legwork. Agibot’s head of communications, Yuheng Feng, explained its potential to Engadget. Beyond educational roles, the X2 could become a personalized entertainment partner. “Take a TikTok video, for example, you can use that video to train the robot, [so] it can also dance exactly like you did in the video,” Feng stated. This points to a future where robots don’t just perform pre-programmed routines but can learn and mimic human movement from simple video uploads.
The company is taking a customizable, application-driven approach to commercialization. Feng noted that final pricing and specific U.S. availability will depend heavily on how businesses want to deploy them, as the hardware can be tailored for different use cases. For now, the focus remains on proving their capabilities. The dance moves are not just a spectacle but a demonstration of complex balance, coordination, and learning algorithms that underpin their practical utility.
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As CES 2026 continues from January 4 to January 9, the Agibot reveal underscores a broader trend: humanoid robots are transitioning from lab curiosities and industrial machines into social, interactive entities. While questions about cost and specific timelines remain, the demonstration makes one thing clear: the era of robots that can walk alongside us, assist us, and even share in our social media fun, is dawning faster than many anticipated.
