Toronto is set to come alive this weekend for Lunar New Year celebrations, highlighted by a special celebration at Nathan Philips Square featuring a blend of modern tech with ancient tradition.

This year’s festivities, which coincide with Valentine’s Day, will feature the Spring Festival market, fireworks and dancing robots all the way from Asia. The two robots will take turns dancing with performers while a smaller companion handles the crowd interaction. But there is still the challenge of cold weather.

“We make sure they’re in the warm tent, but we do have challenges because we do have three minutes where they perform outside at the main stage before the fireworks come down,” Toronto Spring Festival NPO founder and chairman Blur Wu tells OMNI News.

The high-tech robotic dog performs tasks that every dog can do, like shaking hands. But they’ve also been programmed to do special moves, like drawing hearts in the air and performing traditional Chinese New Year greetings, further adding a unique high-tech flair to this year’s festivities.

“We aim to show that when technology is mature and reliable enough, it can naturally blend into festivals and everyday life,” explains Skyler, co-founder of SpeedyDrone.

Once again this year, there are cultural performances, lucky draws, a festival market, and musical fireworks cap the celebrations, welcoming the New Year.

“We want to share the joy and excitement of the Lunar New Year with all of Toronto,” said Wu.

Organizers expect to draw upwards of 50,000 people from the Chinese community and beyond for this weekend’s festivities.