China isn’t only leading in open-source AI, but it’s also looking to establish global leadership in the field of robotics as well.
China is organizing the world’s first humanoid games in Beijing. These games are modelled on the Olympics, but feature humanoid robots instead of humans. More than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries – including Japan, Germany and the US – are competing in 26 sports, from track and field events to kickboxing.
The games featured many traditional Olympics events, such as the 100m and 1500m races. Then there were events that were designed specially for robots, such as an obstacle course, and the standing high jump. The events were held in a full-sized stadium with giant screens and cheering crowds.
Given how this was the first such event, some of the robots were a little rough around the edges. In the opening race, some robots were not able to finish, while some did not even get off the starting line. One of the participants, a Xingzhe Taishan robot from Shandong-based Yobotics, fell and lost one of its arms, although it managed to carry on and finished the race to encouraging applause from the crowd.
In the 1500m, race, Unitree won gold at a time that was double the current human world record. The race witnessed some drama as well, with a robot knocking down a human that was controlling a different robot.
The standing jump event saw a robot jump 95.6 cm to clinch gold. It was no Fosbury Flop, but did the job.
In the obstacle course race, robots expertly navigated a series of obstacles that had been placed on the tracks.
In the 100 meters dash, the first-placed robot finished in 22.08 seconds, roughly double the human record set by Usain Bolt of 9.59 seconds. Some robots were fully autonomous, while others had human handlers running behind them with controllers.
This might feel like fun and games, but is really a demonstration of technical ability — China is showing off its progress in robotics to the world, and companies like Unitree, which already make humanoid robots for commercial purchase, can show off their latest technologies. These games also have the happy consequence of getting lots of different companies in China compete to build the best robots, and they can together push the field a lot further as a result. In 2008, China had signaled its rise on the world stage by hosting the grand Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In 2025, it seems to be signaling its rise in tech with the first ever Humanoid Robot games.