[Video] China’s robots are getting faster, stronger and more human

Held in Beijing from 22 to 26 August, the second World Humanoid Robot Games brought together more than 2,000 robots from 666 teams across 16 countries and regions, competing in 51 events that put their speed, strength, balance, coordination and ability to handle real-world scenarios to the test.

China’s AgiBot emerged as the biggest medal winner, taking 46 medals, including 18 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze.

While some robots tripped and crashed, these viral moments also highlighted how much the humanoids had improved since last year’s inaugural Games.

Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics, clocked 8.85 seconds in the 100m semi-final, cutting more than half off last year’s winning time and surpassing Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second human world record. Its running posture is also looking increasingly human-like.

Beyond running, the humanoids demonstrated their athletic abilities across events such as the long jump, weightlifting, tug of war and table tennis.

Another highlight was robot dancing. Introduced as a new competition this year, robot dance may look like pure showmanship, but it is also a test of joint power and responsiveness, balance control and motion-planning systems.

Gao Qian, deputy director of the Academic Affairs Office at Beijing Dance Academy, said: “I believe robot dance and human-robot dance will eventually complement cultural tourism performances and stage productions.”

In the dexterous-hand challenges, robots had to perform small but demanding actions such as picking beans with tweezers, weighing powder, plugging in cables and hammering nails. These tasks tested their perception, decision-making and ability to operate independently.

So how do these impressive demonstrations translate into commercial value?

Xu Zhiyuan, head of motion control at the Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics, said: “The Games serve as a platform for training through competition. They test robots’ high-torque output capability and balance stability. These capabilities will give robots an advantage in tackling more extreme scenarios in the future.”

The World Humanoid Robot Games are therefore more than a showcase of increasingly capable robots. They give developers a controlled environment to test these capabilities, identify weaknesses, challenge their limits and push the technology towards commercial deployment.

After just one year, the progress is already remarkable.

As Jiang Guangzhi, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, said: “Compared with last year, this year’s humanoid robots are more robust, more coordinated, more autonomous, more responsive and more dexterous. We hope that through this platform, we can see the direction ahead and also explore a beautiful future of human-robot coexistence.”

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