Chinese street dancer Wu Yufei took an unusual group of dance partners to the final stage of America’s Got Talent, humanoid robots.
The 27-year-old dancer from Sichuan, China, is competing under the name Homies alongside humanoid robots developed by Chinese robotics company Unitree. The act has advanced to the Season 21 finale after combining street dance, martial arts and robotics in a performance that earned a Live Golden Buzzer from judge Sofia Vergara.
The top 10 acts are scheduled to perform in the live finale on Tuesday, September 22, with the Season 21 winner set to be announced during the results show on Wednesday, September 23. The winner will receive a $1 million prize.
Wu’s partnership with the robots has become one of the season’s most unusual performances. Rather than simply using the machines as props, he choreographed routines that require the robots to move alongside human performers with precise timing.
During the September 8 quarterfinal performance, Wu and the Unitree robots delivered a martial arts-inspired routine featuring synchronized punches, kicks, poses and acrobatic movements, including flips. The robots matched Wu’s movements with mechanical precision as the performance shifted between dance and martial arts.
The routine earned a strong reaction from the audience and judges before Vergara used her Live Golden Buzzer to send the act directly to the finale.
The Golden Buzzer meant Homies did not have to rely on the public vote to progress through the semifinals. Unitree joined three other Live Golden Buzzer recipients — Hundred Fingers, Lai Noelle and Nene Royal — as automatic finalists. Six additional acts later secured their places through the semifinals.
Wu has spent 13 years dancing, building his experience in street dance before bringing robotics into his performances.
His partnership with Unitree’s humanoid robots required a different approach to choreography. Wu has described the robots’ ability to learn movements rapidly as “quite terrifying,” while also saying months of rehearsals helped create a sense of teamwork between the human dancer and the machines.
Their precision allows them to repeat complex movements in close synchronization, creating formations that would be difficult to maintain with a large human group. Engineers work alongside the dancers to program and refine the robots’ movements before performances.
The collaboration also reflects Unitree’s wider effort to demonstrate humanoid robots in public settings.
The robots first attracted attention on America’s Got Talent during the show’s Season 21 premiere on June 2.
Unitree’s robots performed a highly synchronized routine alongside Wu, dancing to Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra.” The machines performed coordinated dance movements and a somersault as part of the audition, immediately establishing the act as one of the season’s more unusual entries.
Homies now face nine other finalists in the Season 21 finale.
