First World Humanoid Robot Games open with hip-hop and martial arts
By Fu Ting
A robot rehearses the 100m race before the opening ceremony of The World Humanoid Robot Games held in Beijing, China, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Humanoid robots danced hip-hop, performed martial arts and played keyboard, guitar and drums at the opening ceremony of the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Thursday evening.
The competition begins Friday with more than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries, including the U.S., Germany and Japan, competing in sports including soccer, running and boxing. The event comes as China has stepped up efforts to develop humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence.
During the opening ceremony, the robots demonstrated soccer and boxing among other sports, with some cheering and backflipping as if at a real sports event.
One robot soccer player scored a goal after a few tries, causing the robot goalkeeper to fall to the ground. Another player fell but stood up unassisted.
The robots also modeled fashionable hats and clothes alongside human models. In one mishap, a robot model fell and had to be carried off the stage by two human beings.
Teams from robot companies and Chinese universities including Tsinghua University and Peking University are competing in the games. Three middle schools are also participating.
China’s official newspaper People’s Daily quoted a government officer in Beijing as saying that every robot that participates “is creating history.”
The event will last three days, concluding on Sunday. Tickets sold to the public range from 180 yuan ($25) to 580 ($80).
___
Olivia Zhang contributed to this report from Beijing.
YouTube will offer creators a way to rejoin the streaming platform if they were banned for violating COVID-19 and election misinformation policies that are no longer in effect.
Ben Lamm, founder of Colossal Biosciences, is leading a bold mission to resurrect the extinct dodo via gene editing, avian breakthroughs, and rewilding plans.
Chipmaker Nvidia will invest $100 billion in OpenAI as part of a partnership that will add at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia AI data centers to ramp up the computing power for the owner of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.
Julie Hansen of Babbel unveils Babbel Speak, an AI voice trainer tackling language fear head-on, as Babbel eyes IPO and takes on AirPods’ translation tech.
The Trump administration has issued its first warnings to online services that offer unofficial versions of popular drugs like the blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an inquiry into several social media and artificial intelligence companies about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their AI chatbots as companions.
