Can a robot perform crosstalk with motion capture?

At the 2026 E-town Spring Festival Gala & E-town Model Commendation Ceremony, renowned crosstalk performer Li Jing was joined by an unusual partner—a humanoid robot. The two performed the crosstalk piece "Code vs. Horse" to roaring applause.

The secret lay behind the scenes. Crosstalk performer/comedy writer Sheng Wei, wearing a mocap suit, had every gesture and turn captured by CHINGMU's optical system, which calculated joint poses and motion trajectories in real time, driving the robot on stage via a low-latency link to precisely replicate the movements. The timing was flawless, as if two actors were truly conversing. With a performer remotely controlling a robot on stage, the traditional art of crosstalk was pulled into the future by technology.