The first World Humanoid Robot Games officially launched on Thursday night with a high-tech opening ceremony at Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval, also known as the "Ice Ribbon."
Over 500 humanoid robots from 16 nations will compete in the inaugural event, held through Sunday, Aug 17.
At the ceremony, professional performers shared the stage with humanoid robots, delivering dazzling street dance performances and Chinese Kung Fu demonstrations. Beams of light converged on the 'Intelligence Core' installation, symbolically igniting a new chapter in technological advancement.
A diverse range of competition events lies ahead for the 280 competing teams, from head-to-head competitive matches to technical skill demonstrations and practical scenario challenges.
The Games come at a pivotal moment in the evolution of humanoid robotics, as the technology reaches new levels of maturity and capability. In the much-anticipated event of robot football, teams are confident that these improvements will make for exciting matches.
"The new robots are much faster, much more stable. They can play much better games. And hopefully we will see that at this competition," said Rico Tilgner, team leader of HTWK Robots from Germany.
Competing teams act entirely through the artificial intelligence inside the bots themselves, without any use of remote control.
"The robot sees the ball, chases it, independently determines the direction of the ball and the goal, and decides where to kick it," explained Wei Fangde, team leader of Booster Robotics from China.
The three-day competition is jointly hosted by the Beijing municipal government and China Media Group (CMG).
2025 World Humanoid Robot Games opens in Beijing
2025 World Humanoid Robot Games opens in Beijing
