Unitree Robotics, a key contender in an upcoming robot combat competition, brought its cutting-edge humanoid robots to a school in east China's Hangzhou City on Wednesday, offering a live demonstration of their capabilities and a hands-on science and technology lesson for students.
The visit served as a performance test for the robots ahead of the highly anticipated world’s first-ever robot boxing match, which is part of the China Media Group (CMG) World Robotics Skills Competition. The event will take place this Sunday in Hangzhou and be livestreamed globally by China Media Group (CMG).
The students marveled at the fine movements of the robots such as straight punches, hook punches, sidekicks, aerial spin kicks and even getting up from the ground after falling.
"It's incredible. Now I really want to know how these robots can fight with each other," said Ni Zhangyao, a student watching the robot test match at Hangzhou Qian Xuesen School.
Unitree Robotics attributed its robots’ agility to advancements in core technologies, especially algorithmic breakthroughs. Wednesday’s demonstration served as a test run for the G1 robots’ formal debut on May 25, featuring motion-capture punches, knockdowns, and recoveries.
"The robots fight in a human-machine collaborative way. We have three ways of controlling them. The most common way is that the controller uses a simple controller to control the robot's movements. We will reveal two other newly-developed control modes on the match [on Sunday]. You will see how they go by that time," said Chu Yang, a marketing team member of the Unitree Robotics.
The Unitree humanoid robots also tested their endurance at the school by complete a 40-minute jogging on the basketball court, which drew enthusiastic cheers from students.
Humanoid robots showcase combat skills ahead of world’s first robot boxing match in Hangzhou
The International Deep Space Exploration (Tiandu) Conference run from Thurday from Friday in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, where Chinese commercial space companies laid out their plans for expanding lunar activity.
At the event, firms presented lunar ambitions ranging from rovers and robotics to rockets and visions for long-term human stays, marking what Wu Weiren, director of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory and a Chinese academician, called "the age of commercial lunar exploration" in his opening keynote speech.
Among the active players, Galactic Energy celebrated the successful maiden flight of its medium-lift liquid rocket PALLAS-1 on Tuesday and is now preparing the larger PALLAS-2 for potential lunar and deep-space missions. Xia Dongkun, the company's executive president, said the goal is to access rare earth elements and other resources on the Moon and asteroids, which are far more abundant than on Earth.
Guangzhou-based CAS Space also shared footage of its Kinastra-1 upper stage, which is set to carry out the company's first lunar mission. The stage is expected to place a satellite into a trans-lunar transfer trajectory in the first quarter of 2027.
"Building on the successful maiden-flight verification, we will focus on advancing a three-step plan for deep-space applications -- helping unlock the trillion-yuan value of the space economy," said Zhu Qinglin, deputy chief designer of the Kinastra-1 upper stage.
Beyond technology demonstrations, the conference was aimed to lay the groundwork for sustainable and inclusive deep space exploration. Organizers announced that the China-led Cislunar CubeSat Constellation (C3) Program will be open to scientists and institutions worldwide, giving developing countries opportunities to participate in deep-space missions.
"It gets busier. We have more actors. It's more accessible in that sense, which is a good thing. But it's maybe for the first time in human history that we are trying to get to the moon with some mechanism already in place -- these principles for everyone's benefit and go there. With those principles very well understood, so that it can be, in a way or another, sustainable for the future," said Ulpia-Elena Botezatu, co-chair of UN-COPUOS Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation.
Chinese commercial space companies aim high for expanding lunar activity at Hefei conference
