A robot dance troupe is one performance away from a $1 million prize. "America's Got Talent" Season 21 kicks off its two-night finale tonight, and Chinese dancer Wu Yufei - performing alongside eight humanoid robots from Unitree Robotics - is one of the 10 acts taking the stage for the last time.
The act, competing under the name Unitree, secured its finale spot months ago after a viral audition set to Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra," where the robots executed synchronized flips alongside Wu's choreography. Simon Cowell called it "nuts, but brilliant," and the performance earned a rare unanimous vote.
Unitree joins fellow Golden Buzzer winners Lai Noelle, Hundred Fingers, and 16-year-old Thai rocker Nene Royal - plus six acts who earned their way through the semifinals, including dog act Olivia Befus and comedy troupe Royal Lasers. All 10 finalists perform tonight at 9/8c on NBC, with the winner revealed Wednesday, September 23, also at 9/8c.
However the vote lands, there's something worth sitting with in a season where a robot can share a stage with a teenage singer and a comedian and still lose to a human moment audiences can't stop replaying. Technology can imitate rhythm and precision - but it can't replicate the spark of a person pouring real emotion into a performance, the kind of spark believers would call God-given.
Related article: How to Watch the AGT Season 21 Finale: Full Schedule, Time Change, and Who's Competing
