The world’s first-ever humanoid robot games kicked off Friday in Beijing, featuring more than 500 androids showcasing a mix of clumsy stumbles and impressive feats across events ranging from 100-metre hurdles to kung fu.
Teams from 16 countries gathered at Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval, originally built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, to compete in traditional sports like athletics and basketball, as well as practical challenges such as medicine sorting and cleaning.
Eighteen-year-old spectator Chen Ruiyuan expressed optimism about the future, saying he believes robots could match human abilities within the next decade. While robots showed promise, some events highlighted their current limitations. In a five-a-side football match, robots the size of seven-year-olds struggled with coordination, often falling or getting stuck. Yet in a 1500-metre race, domestic champion Unitree’s robots performed strongly, with the fastest completing the course in 6:29:37—well behind human world records but impressive for their level.
This marks the first competition to focus specifically on humanoid robots, supported heavily by the Chinese government as part of a national strategy to advance robotics and showcase global technological leadership. Public engagement is also encouraged, with school trips organized to the games and plans for a one-trillion-yuan fund to boost tech startups.
Spectators like Chen and his peers were particularly impressed by boxing and kung fu events, noting the robots’ agility improvements despite occasional falls that delighted the cheering crowd.
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