On your marks, get set, bleep! China hosts World Humanoid Robot Games with 280 teams from 16 countries

China launched the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Friday, featuring 280 teams from 16 countries competing in sports and practical challenges. The three-day event showcases China’s growing investment in robotics and AI as the nation positions itself as a leader in humanoid technology while collecting valuable data for real-world applications.

What you should know: The competition included both traditional sports adaptations and robot-specific challenges designed to test practical capabilities.

• Teams competed in track and field, table tennis, and football, alongside tasks like sorting medicines, handling materials, and cleaning services.
• 192 teams represented universities while 88 came from private enterprises, including China’s Unitree and Fourier Intelligence.
• International participation included teams from the United States, Germany, and Brazil, with many using robots from Chinese manufacturers like Booster Robotics.

The spectacle factor: Despite frequent crashes and collapses, the robot performances drew enthusiastic crowds willing to pay premium ticket prices.

• Tickets ranged from 128 to 580 yuan ($17.83-$80.77), indicating strong public interest in robotics demonstrations.
• During football matches, robots repeatedly crashed into each other and toppled over, with one match featuring four robots colliding in a tangled heap.
• In the 1500-meter running event, one robot suddenly collapsed while running at full speed, drawing both gasps and cheers from spectators.

Why this matters: The games serve as both entertainment and crucial data collection for developing practical robotic applications in manufacturing and other industries.

• Football matches help train robots’ coordination abilities, which organizers say could prove useful for assembly line operations requiring collaboration between multiple units.
• China is investing billions of dollars in humanoids and robotics as it grapples with an aging population and intensifying competition with the U.S. over advanced technologies.

What they’re saying: Participants emphasized the research value beyond competition results.

• “We come here to play and to win. But we are also interested in research,” said Max Polter from Germany’s HTWK Robots football team, affiliated with Leipzig University of Applied Sciences. “You can test a lot of interesting new and exciting approaches in this contest. If we try something and it doesn’t work, we lose the game. That’s sad but it is better than investing a lot of money into a product which failed.”

The bigger picture: China has staged multiple high-profile robotics events recently, including what it called the world’s first humanoid robot marathon and the opening of retail stores dedicated to humanoid robots.

• Morgan Stanley, a global investment bank, noted a surge in general public attendance at a recent robot conference compared to previous years, indicating “how China, not just top government officials, has embraced the concept of embodied intelligence.”