The athletes at China’s Robot Games fell down a lot

NEW YORK – There is a very real concern that robots could eventually make some of our jobs obsolete. But at a robot-only sports competition in China over the weekend, the immediate concern was that they would fall over or crash into one another.

The World Humanoid Robot Games, a three-day event in Beijing that ended on Aug 17, featured more than 280 teams from universities and private companies in 16 countries. Some robots landed backflips and successfully navigated obstacle courses and rough terrain.

In other cases, the robots’ athletic ability left, well, something to be desired.

During football matches, child-size ones tripped over one another, falling down like dominoes. One goalkeeper robot stood placidly as its opponent kicked a ball at its legs several times before finally managing to score.

One robot by China’s Unitree Robotics ploughed into a human staff member while sprinting during a track event, knocking him down.

In kickboxing matches, robots wearing colourful gloves and head gear struggled to land punches.

“To be honest, the hit rate is a little low,” a commentator said. “They’re punching the air.”

After a few minutes of flailing jabs and kicks, the referee declared one robot the winner. It raised its gloved hands and pumped them in the air to the sound of spectators applauding, while its opponent laid down in an apparent show of defeat.

The event was China’s latest high-profile robotics showcase.

During China’s Lunar New Year’s eve television gala, watched by hundreds of millions of people, humanoid robots performed folk dances. In April, the Beijing municipal government held a half-marathon for 12,000 runners and 20 humanoid robots.

China is trying to make rapid advancements in robotics, propelled by government directives and massive investments. Robots powered by artificial intelligence have already revolutionised manufacturing in the country. That has brought down operating costs and in some cases helped companies withstand United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Beijing officials told domestic news media that the Humanoid Robot Games were a test of cutting-edge advancements in robotics technology.

The test revealed limitations, but also possibilities.

“Despite the pratfalls, significant progress in robot locomotion and balance is being achieved including backflips, sideflips, and other acrobatic and martial arts moves,” said Ken Goldberg, a robotics professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

One robot from Unitree Robotics won the gold medal for the 1,500m indoor track event with a time of 6min 34.40sec. The speed was impressive, Goldberg said. Although the robot was far slower than the human who holds the record in that event (Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, who finished in 3:29.63), it was faster than many non-professional human runners.

Some entrepreneurs believe that humanoid robots will one day do many physical tasks now handled by people, including household chores, warehouse jobs and factory labour. But for now, even simple tasks like loading the dishwasher are anything but simple for them.

Alan Fern, a robotics professor at Oregon State University, said the Humanoid Robot Games helped to “give the public a realistic impression of where things really are”.

Fern said the Games highlighted rapid advancements in the industry. One is that manufacturing of humanoid robots has developed enough that researchers no longer need to pay exorbitant amounts of money to buy them, or build their own, as they did only a year or two ago.

Another is that advancements in AI allow the machines to do a wider range of basic tasks. Five years ago, “it was rare to see a humanoid robot that could reliably walk, let alone run, jump or handle rough terrain,” he said.

But Fern said the type of robots used in the Games are generally not equipped for higher-level functions such as planning or reasoning and usually need a human operator to help guide them.

“The robots are still dumb,” he said. NYTIMES