San Francisco Frontiers - Football and falls as first humanoid robot games launch in China

Hundreds of robotics teams from 16 countries are going for gold at the Chinese capital's National Speed Skating Oval, built for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Events include traditional sports like athletics and basketball, as well as practical tasks such as medicine categorisation and cleaning.

"I believe in the next 10 years or so robots will be basically at the same level as humans," enthusiastic 18-year-old spectator Chen Ruiyuan told AFP.

Human athletes might not be quaking in their boots just yet.

At one of the first events on Friday, five-a-side football, 10 robots the size of seven-year-olds shuffled around the pitch, often getting stuck in a scrum or falling over en masse.

However, in a 1500m race, domestic champion Unitree's humanoid stomped along the track at an impressive clip, easily outpacing rivals.

The fastest robot AFP witnessed finished in 6min 29.37sec, a far cry from the human men's world record of 3:26.00.

One mechanical racer barrelled straight into a human operator. The robot remained standing while the human was knocked flat, though did not appear to be injured.

- 'National strategy' -

Robot competitions have been held for decades, but the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games is the first to focus specifically on robots that resemble human bodies, organisers said.

The Chinese government has poured support into robotics hoping to lead the industry.

Beijing has put humanoids in the "centre of their national strategy", the International Federation of Robotics wrote in a paper on Thursday.

"The government wants to showcase its competence and global competitiveness in this field of technology," it added.

Joost Weerheim, an operator with a Dutch five-a-side robot football team, told AFP he was impressed.

"I think right now if they are not already the world leader, they are very, very quickly becoming it," he said.

Domestically, authorities are working to raise awareness of the sector across society.

Cui Han, accompanying her 10-year-old, told AFP that her son's school had organised and paid for the trip to the Games.

"I hope it will encourage him to learn more about these new technologies," she said.

In March, China announced plans for a one-trillion-yuan fund ($139 billion) to support technology startups, including those in robotics and AI.

The country is already the world's largest market for industrial robots, official statistics show, and in April Beijing held what organisers dubbed the world's first humanoid robot half-marathon.

Chen, the 18-year-old, told AFP he was about to begin studying automation at university.

"Coming here can cultivate my passion for this field," he said. "My favourite is the boxing because... it requires a lot of agility and I can really see how the robots have improved from before."

At the kung fu competition area, a pint-sized robot resembling one from the popular Transformer series attempted to execute a move, but fell flat on its front.

It spun around on the floor as it struggled to get back up, the crowd happily cheering.

W.Thompson--SFF