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Humanoid Olympiad Debuts in Ancient Olympia, Exposing the Gap With AI

Experts say scarce real-world training data keeps household-capable robots more than a decade away.

Overview

  • Robots played soccer, shadow-boxed, and shot arrows at the four-day gathering in Greece, with pauses for battery swaps highlighting endurance limits.
  • A Science Robotics analysis estimated humanlike machines are about 100,000 years behind software AI in data-driven learning.
  • Organizers constrained events to feasible tasks, ruling out discus, javelin, and high jump as unrealistic for current hardware.
  • Proposed accelerants included collecting on-the-job task data, leveraging prosthetic-hand sensor datasets, and experimenting with neuron-based chips to improve learning.
  • Researchers described fast-growing partnerships drawing billions in funding, as China leans into live public showcases and many U.S. firms favor polished videos.