// WIRED US/UK — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
The Humanoids at China’s Robot Games Were Faster Than Usain Bolt—but I’m More Impressed by Their Tweezer Mastery
If you’re anything like me, the World Humanoid Robot Games are a highlight of your sporting calendar.
The event, held in China, showcases the latest humanoid hardware, lots of algorithmic innovations, and a good dose of robot slapstick. This year’s iteration, which wrapped up in Beijing on August 26, did not disappoint. Besides record-breaking feats—the fastest humanoid on the planet!—and the occasional calamity—weightlifting gone wrong!—the games also included some new challenges that hint at the event’s real purpose: pushing humanoid companies to develop systems that inch closer and closer to practical deployment.
First, though, let’s marvel at some of the more dramatic happenings, which have been all over the internet since things kicked off on August 22.
The opening ceremony showcased the sheer size of the event—the organizers say that more than 600 teams showed up with over 2,000 robots. There are more than 100 humanoid robot manufacturers in China alone, and participants also traveled in from 15 other countries.
Humanoid robots are seen preparing for the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games.
The games featured a mix of contests and competitions, and some saw judges scoring a robot’s performance. Witness the Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, running the 100-meter dash in 8.86 seconds. Another robot called Lightning, from the smartphone maker Honor, ran the distance in 9.47 seconds a few days earlier.
A Chinese humanoid robot named “Lightning” has set a new 100-meter sprint record, clocking 9.32 seconds in a test ahead of the second World Humanoid Robot Games, surpassing Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt’s human world record of 9.58 seconds.
Both times beat the (human) world record set by Usain Bolt. The Tiangong robot also won the long jump with a sprawl of 7.97 meters. Renaissance robot! Another company’s robot, meanwhile, played Ping Pong against an Olympic champ.
Humanoid robots compete in table tennis during day two of the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games at the National Speed Skating Oval.
Elsewhere, bots punched each other, scored soccer goals, lifted weights (or tried to), and performed cheerleading routines in silly costumes. Part of the fun stems from the fact that it’s easy to anthropomorphize a humanoid robot’s actions, which tends to make their mishaps particularly funny. Take, for instance, the robot that appeared distracted by a cheerleading display, then tumbled over a balustrade.