World Humanoid Robot Games 2026: Robots smash records
The second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing showcase major advancements and lingering limits of humanoid robots.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- World Humanoid Robot Games concluded a five-day event in Beijing.
- A robot sprinted 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, beating Usain Bolt.
- Events ranged from sports to chores like folding clothes and bed-making.
- The games aim to push robots out of labs into messy real environments.
Robots were shattering records and breaking down in spectacular fashion at Beijing’s World Humanoid Robot Games. The five-day event brought high drama as humanoid machines faced off in various competitions, resulting in loose limbs, sparks, and sudden failures.
One robot built by smartphone maker Honor lost a leg mid-sprint, while others tripped in a flurry of sparks. Another finisher ran straight into a crash mat, bounced off, and burst into flames. In weightlifting, a robot lost its balance under a modest barbell and toppled into the judges’ table with arms aloft.
Staging the games in Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval highlights China's ambition to turn robotics into a public spectacle while rigorously testing hardware under dynamic conditions. By combining high-profile sports with mundane tasks, developers gather crucial data on how machines handle unpredictable physical stresses in the real world.
This marked only the second iteration of the games, expanding significantly from the inaugural event last year. In the previous year, the winning 100-meter sprint was a slow 21.50 seconds and the high jump reached just 0.95 meters, held in the same former Olympic venue.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Beyond traditional sports like sprinting, football, boxing, and weightlifting, the competition featured practical household and industrial tasks. Participants competed in bed-making, parcel delivery, shelf stacking, clothes folding, hammering nails, and firefighting.
- Sprinting and high jump
- Bed-making and clothes folding
- Parcel delivery and shelf stacking
- Nail hammering and firefighting
Despite the operational failures, the performance metrics revealed massive strides in robotics. One humanoid completed the 100-meter sprint in 9.39 seconds, beating Usain Bolt’s 2009 world record. Another robot cleared 2.88 meters in the standing high jump, nearly half a meter above the human record.
However, the event also highlighted the distance remaining before humanoids become truly practical for everyday use. While flashy sports events drew massive attention, delicate tasks like picking up soybeans with tweezers proved far less thrilling.
Source: The Verge
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