Humanoid Robot Games Quadruple Participation in Beijing
The Second World Humanoid Robot Games will bring 2,056 robots from 666 teams across 16 countries to Beijing from August 22-26, quadrupling the number of participating robots compared to the inaugural edition last year, organizers announced at a press conference on Thursday.
According to Xinhua News, the event at the National Speed Skating Oval “Ice Ribbon” will feature 51 events and 1,301 matches — up from 26 events and 487 matches in 2025. Team participation has grown by 138 percent, with competitors arriving from six continents.
Global Participation Expands
The international field includes robotics powerhouses such as the United States, Germany, and Japan. Brazil has assembled a national team comprising five RoboCup champion squads, as China Daily reported.
Domestically, 157 enterprises and 200 universities and research institutions will field 641 teams with 1,975 robots. This includes 27 “985” universities — China’s top-tier institutions — and teams from 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and special administrative regions.
Beijing Information Science & Technology University will be a standout participant, bringing the largest contingent with 49 teams competing in 119 categories. Li Lianpeng, deputy director of the university’s academic affairs department, told China Daily that the teams will compete across events ranging from sprints and soccer to industrial assembly and dexterous manipulation tasks.
“These activities span virtually the entire spectrum of practical applications for humanoid robots,” Li said.
Pushing Technical Limits
The second edition introduces new high-intensity competitive events including long jump, weightlifting, tug-of-war, and table tennis — disciplines designed to test robots’ structural integrity and core components under extreme conditions.
“Each additional centimeter in a jump or extra kilogram lifted on the field is the result of engineers’ relentless efforts to optimize design, precision machining and the rigorous testing of joint motors and reducers,” said Jiang Guangzhi, executive deputy director of the organizing committee and director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, as reported by Global Times.
Perhaps the most significant technical storyline is the push toward full autonomy. Track events have been upgraded to “fully autonomous” mode, requiring robots to rely entirely on their own perception and decision-making systems. Time limits have been dramatically tightened — the 100-meter dash from three minutes to one, the 400 meters from 15 minutes to five, and the 1,500 meters from 40 minutes to 15.
In scenario-based contests, autonomous completion carries a scoring weight of 1.0 versus 0.5 for teleoperation, a disparity that Global Times reports is forcing teams to build complete stacks of environmental perception, real-time decision-making, and autonomous execution.
“Autonomy is the single most important technical storyline of this edition,” said Chen Jing, vice president of the Technology and Strategy Research Institute. “Humanoid robots have until now largely amounted to remote-controlled toys that needed an operator running alongside, which is not what embodied intelligence should mean.”
From Arena to Workplace
Scenario events have expanded to cover nine real-world domains — industrial, hotel, family, logistics, library, retail, office, garden inspection, and vehicle charging. The event also debuts specialized dexterous hand competitions with eight high-precision tasks, including electric tool assembly, powder weighing, and tweezer-based bean picking.
A new “Comprehensive Pentathlon” combines a 100-meter sprint with scenario tasks, testing robots’ ability to perform dexterous operations, stable passing, heavy object carrying, cart pushing, and two-hand coordination while in motion.
Jiang emphasized the industrial significance of the games, noting that competition rules are expected to evolve into practical technical acceptance standards.
“Once robots master these ‘last-meter’ skills, they can turn medals into orders and move directly from the competition arena to real-world workplaces,” he said.
The IT之家 report notes that six scenario events will take place in real environments — such as a robot “librarian” organizing books in a school library and a robot “hotel attendant” making beds and cleaning rooms — while 13 events will be held in 1:1 replicated environments at the venue.
Industry Momentum
The games come amid accelerating progress in humanoid robotics. In April, the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon saw the champion robot “Lightning” complete the course in 50 minutes 26 seconds — less than one-third of the previous year’s winning time and faster than the human record.
Shao Yuanxin, founder of Rob-Stride Dynamics, told China Daily that events like these “could help the industry collect high-level data, showcase their capabilities, train more talented personnel and create job opportunities for China.”
Chen Jing views the games as a potential proving ground for de facto industry standards, noting that more than 50 events with quantified metrics give companies benchmarks that are comparable and reproducible.
After the competition concludes, the “Ice Ribbon” will become a permanent training base for participating teams and will open for educational visits, helping cultivate interest in embodied intelligence among younger generations.
The World Robot Conference will follow in Beijing’s E-Town from August 19-23, extending the city’s robotics showcase season. Tickets for the games start at 98 yuan for match days and 128 yuan for opening and closing ceremonies, with discounted double and triple packages available.