AIbase Report From August 14 to 17, the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing will host an unprecedented technological feast - the first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games. A record number of 280 teams will compete fiercely. The final number of participating teams was determined after review. The participants include leading domestic humanoid robot companies, top universities, and international teams.
On the corporate side, leading domestic companies such as Unitree, Star Sea Map, Tian Gong, Accelerate Evolution, Songyan Power, and Fuliye have all participated. Among them, Star Sea Map, which is backed by Meituan, will serve as the exclusive system provider for the scenario competition, providing infrastructure support with its general-purpose humanoid robots R1Pro and R1Lite. Unitree revealed that in addition to their own team, multiple other teams are using its robot hardware combined with self-developed algorithms to participate in the competition.
Academically, top universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Wuhan University have formed teams to participate. The event also boasts a high level of international participation, with teams from 15 countries including the United States and Germany competing on the same stage.
Differing from traditional sports events, the most innovative aspect of this competition is the scenario competition unit, designed to test the comprehensive capabilities of robots in real-world application scenarios. Hotel Cleaning Competition requires robots to start from the starting point, push down the door handle to enter the room, and quickly and accurately place scattered water bottles, disposable meal boxes, and aluminum cans on the furniture into the trash can.
Other scenario competition projects include factory material handling, hospital medicine sorting, and warehouse mixed material sorting. These projects directly correspond to future commercial applications of humanoid robots, holding significant industrial guidance value.
Facing diverse competition projects, all participating teams have made sufficient technical preparations. According to China Central Television News, a robot research and development institution in Hefei upgraded its visual solution specifically for the drug disassembly competition, establishing a dedicated detection and segmentation model for highly reflective objects to deal with the interference caused by the reflectivity of aluminum foil and plastic on the medicine plates.
Aside from the scenario competition, the event also includes traditional competitive events such as athletics, football, martial arts, and dance:
- 100-meter "Flying Man" Battle: 90 teams will compete for the robot's speed limit
- Half Marathon: The world's first humanoid robot half marathon, with the top six finishers appearing together
- Football, Martial Arts, Dance, and other events will fully demonstrate the robots' athletic abilities and coordination