Overview

• Teams from 16 nations are competing across 21 disciplines—from football and athletics to hotel service scenarios—in the inaugural Games in Beijing.
• About two-thirds of entries hail from university labs and one-third from robotics companies, underlining a blend of academic research and commercial development.
• Unitree announced on X that its robot clocked an unweighted 6:34 to win the 1500m, though official rules apply a 0.8 weighting factor to autonomous times.
• Kickboxing models delivered near-human agility while many entrants suffered stumbles, hardware detachments and a noninjurious collision with a human helper, highlighting ongoing stability challenges.
• Organizers emphasize that the competition’s main goal is data collection for real-world applications, feeding into China’s multibillion-dollar push to advance robotics and AI research.