At the 2026 edition of VivaTech, held at the Parc des expositions at Porte de Versailles in Paris, humanoid robots took centre stage. Parades were even organised so the robots could move around and interact with visitors, the Journal du Net reports. Chinese manufacturer Unitree had a stand at the show, and it stood out among the demonstrations.
The Journal du Net’s report does not say how autonomous the robots on display were, nor which models were shown. The available information is based on the observations of attendees interviewed on site.
Visitors call the robots on Unitree’s stand “impressive”
César, a student at one of France’s leading engineering schools quoted by the Journal du Net, says he was struck first by IBM’s quantum computer as soon as he walked in, then by Unitree’s stand: “the company’s robots are impressive.” His account is that of a visitor, not a technical measurement.
Isabelle Hilali, founder of Datacraft, a club for data scientists, was at the show to speak on a panel about how companies use AI. She believes the humanoids on display showed greater agility and robustness than the previous year. In her view, “the big trend to emerge from this edition is AI combined with robotics.” She noticed “many more robots than last year,” and says companies are considering uses ranging from construction to hospitality and the automotive industry.
At CES 2026, the Unitree G1 humanoid robot (1.32 m, 35 kg) faced visitors in a mock boxing bout
Jizô AI: “Robotics is becoming industrialised”
Speaking from the stand of cybersecurity company Jizô AI in the French Tech area, chief strategy officer Nicolas Arpagian describes a shift compared with previous editions. “In robotics, we have moved beyond what we saw until now, namely the purely accessory and playful side,” he told the Journal du Net. He talks of robots that are “more robust, more autonomous, responsive, capable of interacting in complex environments,” with gestures adapted to the situation thanks to AI. He believes “a normalisation of the presence of AI-augmented robots in the near future” is conceivable.
These assessments come from people attending the show, not from an independent testing protocol. They describe a general impression of the demonstrations, not verified performance on an identified model.
Physical AI: the common thread of VivaTech 2026
Beyond humanoids, artificial intelligence dominated the show, according to the Journal du Net. Speaking on a panel, Abdelalim El Hamichi, a lecturer at HEC, summed up a shift towards “reality”: “in 2026, the trend is physical AI.” Xavier Apolinarsky, vice-president for innovation at Université Paris-Saclay, spoke of an “AI steamroller” that “is colliding with every technology” on show.
Humanoid robotics was therefore part of a show where AI also ran through digital health, energy and quantum technology.