On April 22, in Fushun County, Zigong, Sichuan Province, the fourth game of the 2025-2026 WCBA Finals tipped off. The Sichuan Shu Road Yuanda team hosted the Shanxi Zhuye Qingjiu team, with the game ending 80-87, tying the series at 2-2.

But beyond the score, a moment was captured by a Xinhua News Agency photographer — during a break in the game, an animatronic dinosaur from Zigong, the "Hometown of Dinosaurs," walked onto the court, becoming a special "guest" of the day.

This scene marked an interesting "crossover" between a sporting event and a local specialty industry.

From "Sichuan Super League" to WCBA: Smart Dinosaurs Frequently Appear on the Court

This was not the first time an intelligent animatronic dinosaur had appeared at a sporting event. In October 2025, at the opening ceremony of the tennis competition of the 15th Zigong Municipal Games, "Huazai," a bipedal intelligent animatronic dinosaur independently developed by Hualong Technology, made a stunning appearance. It walked to a lively rhythm, cheering on the athletes and drawing rounds of applause from the audience.

From local games to a national top-tier professional league, Zigong's intelligent animatronic dinosaurs are gradually becoming a new symbol of the fusion of "technology and culture" in sports events. It is understood that such intelligent animatronic dinosaurs have been extended to various scenarios, including shopping malls and amusement parks, becoming a distinctive vehicle connecting culture, tourism, and sports in Zigong.

Technological Breakthrough: Bringing Dinosaurs to Life

The journey of intelligent animatronic dinosaurs onto the sports court has been backed by years of technical accumulation.

Hualong Technology was founded in 1996 and has been rooted in Zigong, the "Hometown of Dinosaurs," for nearly three decades. In October 2024, the company initiated the development of bipedal intelligent animatronic dinosaurs. The team faced significant challenges — the physiological structure of bipedal dinosaurs, with a heavy head and long tail, made balance control a difficult problem.

"Getting the structural proportions and balance points wrong would cause the dinosaur to fall over easily. We built prototypes, overturned them, rebuilt them, and repeatedly adjusted the balance points, experiencing many failures along the way," recalled Zou Shili, head of Hualong Technology.

On September 30, 2025, Hualong Technology's bipedal intelligent animatronic dinosaur was officially launched globally. Today, this product has received orders from North and South America, with application scenarios expanding from traditional cultural tourism to museums, amusement parks, shopping malls, sports events, and many other fields. Zou Shili stated: "We want to make dinosaurs smarter, truly with brains and thoughts, moving towards high-tech and high-added value, letting Zigong dinosaurs represent 'Intelligent Manufacturing in China' and 'Intelligent Manufacturing in Sichuan' go global."

The Far-Reaching Significance of a "Crossover"

The scene at the WCBA Finals may have appeared as just a performance, but it sends a signal: when a city's specialty industry can step onto the stage of a national top-tier event, it is no longer just a "local calling card" but possesses broader cultural influence and industrial value.

Zigong is home to the world's largest production base for animatronic dinosaurs, with its products holding over 90% of the global market share. As these "Zigong dragons" enter sports venues, theme parks, and commercial plazas, they carry not only commercial value but also the transformation story of this city from a "cultural IP" to "intelligent manufacturing."

From the tennis courts of the Zigong Municipal Games to the WCBA national finals, Zigong's intelligent animatronic dinosaurs are using their steps to measure a new path where technology, culture, and sports intersect.