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Cheng said football, as a typical scenario of confrontation and collaboration, provides the public with an intuitive understanding of the real-world application potential of humanoid robots.

Chinanews reported that after three hours of competition, a team from Tsinghua University won the football match.

It added that the competition demonstrated robots' technical achievements in motion control, visual perception, positioning and navigation, decision-making planning, and multi-machine collaboration.

According to footage , some robots lost balance for no reason. Some could not get up and had to be taken away by staff members. A robot kicked the ball into its team's net and then collided with another robot.

Shangyicheng said it will continue to deepen the construction of the robot industry ecosystem, promote collaborative innovation among cerebrum, cerebellum, body and core component companies, and promote the deep integration of industry.

Many Chinese academics have called for the simultaneous development of humanoid robots' cerebrum (decision making), cerebellum (body control), and body for industrial use.

“Most Chinese robot makers use large language models (LLMs) to develop robotic cerebrum, but the development of their robotic cerebellum remains weak, particularly regarding using camera images to control robotic hands and upper bodies,” said Wang He, an assitant professor at Peking University's Center on Frontiers of Computing Studies (CFCS).

“Some robot makers are still using the decade-old technology of sweeping robots to make humanoid robots,” he added.

Wang said it will take some more years before Chinese robots can significantly improve their cerebrum-cerebellum-body coordination, serve people at home and work in factories.

Scenario competition

In April, Beijing hosted the world's first half-marathon for humanoid robots. Twenty-one robots participated in the race, but only six completed the 21-kilometer course.

In May, the China Media Group (CMG) World Robot Competition-Mecha Fighting Series, the first-ever humanoid robot fighting tournament, kicked off in Hangzhou. All four fighters are Unitree G1 robots.

The latest football match between Booster's T1 robots on June 28 also concerned Chinese robots' lower body and self-balancing capability, not their in-hand manipulation ability.

The coming WHRG, organized by the Beijing municipal government, may satisfy some Chinese robot fans and investors, who want to see robots' hands and brains.

The WHRG will include 22 events, including sports, dancing and scenario competitions.

In the scenario competition, humanoid robots will perform factory, hospital, and hotel tasks. In addition, non-humanoid robots will play badminton, table tennis, and basketball.

The other events will still focus on the lower body.

In sports competitions, humanoid robots will compete in seven track-and-field events, including 100 meters, 400 meters, 1500 meters, 4×100 meters relay, 100 meters obstacle race, standing long jump and standing high jump – as well as free gymnastics and 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3and 5 vs 5 football matches.

There will be two dancing competitions for singles and multiple robots.

Chinese robot makers' priority

Making full-body robots are more than 20 companies in China including Unitree, Booster, Xiaomi, Xpeng and Agibot.