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Robots perform with drum during the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Achmad Ibrahim)<\/p>\n
Robots perform with drum during the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Achmad Ibrahim)<\/p>\n
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The five-day games, now in its second year, are a spectacle demonstrating China\u2019s rapid progress in advanced robotics<\/a> as the technology race with the U.S. heats up, with 51 events and more than 1,000 competitions taking place including running, table tennis and soccer.<\/p>\n The games, which are taking place in the National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, opened the same week as Beijing held the 2026 World Robot Conference<\/a>, where companies showcased around 3,000 products, including humanoid robots.<\/p>\n China makes the majority of<\/a> the world\u2019s humanoid robots. The U.S. has stepped up scrutiny of robots from the country<\/a>. <\/p>\n Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced a ban<\/a> on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots. The FCC cited national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon recently also added Unitree<\/a>, one of China\u2019s leading humanoid robot makers, to its list of companies that it deemed have ties with the Chinese military. Beijing has hit back at the accusations.<\/p>\n At Saturday\u2019s opening of the robot games, the organizer and robot makers said that Chinese humanoid robots defeated human world records, as hundreds of humanoid robots marched in formation onto the field in a massive display of synchronized coordination.<\/p>\n At a 100-meter sprint, a humanoid robot achieved a result of 9.39 seconds, beating the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Jamaican athlete Bolt in 2009.<\/p>\n In a standing high jump, a humanoid robot was able to reach 2.88 meters, well above the 0.95 meters best result by a humanoid in last year\u2019s first edition of the games<\/a>. It surpassed the human high jump record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba\u2019s Javier Sotomayor in 1993.<\/p>\n Both robots were from Beijing-based X-Humanoid.<\/p>\n Before the opening, a humanoid robot from Chinese smartphone company Honor completed a 100-meter sprint in a record of 9.32 seconds during a trial of the games, the company said, at a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n Sign up for Morning Wire:<\/strong> <\/p>\n Robots compete in the 100m race during the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Achmad Ibrahim)<\/p>\n Robots compete in the 100m race during the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Achmad Ibrahim)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Still, experts say<\/a> humanoid robots are still mostly used for demonstrations, performances and research \u2014 at least for now \u2014 and it will still take time to achieve mass real-world deployment.<\/p>\n Some spectators at the robot games said they were excited about the humanoid robots\u2019 quickly improving abilities.<\/p>\n Humanoid robots are \u201cevolving rapidly,\u201d said Li Yanfeng, an education worker and a Beijing resident.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, I wasn\u2019t very accepting of artificial intelligence<\/a>. I was even a bit resistant to it, because of the possibility that it might replace or displace humans,\u201d she said. \u201cBut now that I see this development is unstoppable, I decided to come and take a look.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese sports are perfectly normal for humans, but now robots can do them. I find it amazing,\u201d said Yang Shangzheng, another spectator.<\/p>\n
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