The world’s first robot games were a clumsy mess

This week, China’s leading robotics minds gathered in Beijing for a hotly-anticipated, Olympics-style event dubbed the world’s first “Humanoid Robot Games.” 

Over the course of just over an hour, an assortment of wobbly, bipedal robots “competed” in soccer, running, and kickboxing. Others danced alongside far more coordinated children, while a handful struggled to play pre-programmed instruments. The entire awkward affair, touted as a showcase of the country’s robotics prowess, highlighted how far the industry still has to go to approach anything resembling human-level performance.

In other words, the robots weren’t scary. They were just plain goofy. 

Humanoid Games: soccer, dancing, running, and lots of falling 

The event, which began Thursday and runs through the weekend, features 500 humanoid robots from 280 teams across 16 countries. Teams include both private companies and researchers from top Chinese universities. The Associated Press notes three middle school robotics teams also participated. All of the robots required ample space to move—and, in many cases, stumble. To accommodate them, the event was held in the National Speed Skating Oval, a 12,000-seat arena originally built for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Livestreams of the competition showed a smattering of empty seats throughout the arena. Tickets reportedly cost between $25 and $80.

Coverage kicked off, after some delay, with a 1,500-meter race. Unitree, arguably China’s best-known robotics company, won the race handily, with its entries taking first and third place. X-Humanoid, which won the first-ever humanoid robot half marathon earlier this year, came in second. But others didn’t finish at all. The Guardian reported that one robot was forced to retire from the race after its head flopped off while rounding a corner.

“Keeping [the head] balanced while in movement is the biggest challenge for us,” Wang Zizi, one of the robot’s 19-year-old creators said, according to The Guardian. 

Once the race wrapped up, the event transitioned into a spectacle reminiscent of an Olympics opening ceremony. Robots danced alongside human performers, while a robot “band” stood off to the side, pretending to play oversized guitars. One of the robot rockers, seated behind a drum set, appeared to actually play a rudimentary beat, though it’s unclear whether it was doing so autonomously or under the remote control of a human operator. 

The dancing robots jerked and spun as a video overhead showed press footage of robots working in convenience stores and helping around the house. A pop song with the repeating refrain “Future in my sight” blared throughout the arena.

Some of the robots were dressed in fashionable hats and clothes, walking across the stage runway-style and waving to a cheering crowd. During this portion of the event, one of the waving robots—covered in sequins—tripped and face-planted. It lay there, prostrate, for a solid minute before a pair of humans gingerly walked onto the stage and retrieved it, carrying it by its arms and legs like a wounded soldier.

The runway robots were the first of several to struggle against gravity. Kickboxing bots, provided by Unitree, landed solid smacks but promptly toppled to the ground when they missed a kick. A similar scene played out during the soccer match. One attacking robot eventually scored a goal only after repeatedly failing to bypass a mostly stationary goalkeeper. When it finally did succeed, the goalkeeper robot appeared to lose its balance and collapsed to the ground.

Not so fast, humanoids 

These “Humanoid Games” are the culmination of a months-long push by the Chinese government to promote and fast-track its emerging robotics industry. Several cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have received billions in funding to serve as technological development hubs as the country races to outpace the U.S. In the lead-up to this event, Chinese humanoid robot firms also participated in a half-marathon and a live-streamed boxing match.

All of these performances are part of an effort to showcase the technology and generate hype. But if that’s the ultimate goal, this week’s humanoid event may have ultimately done more harm than good. As entertaining as it is to watch robots decapitate themselves while trying to complete a race, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in companies promising to replace human workers or make in-home robot assistance a reality anytime soon.

 

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