China opened the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, staging an Olympic-style competition for machines at the National Speed Skating Oval and nearby National Stadium. After a ceremony on 14 August featuring dancing and martial-arts displays by robots, three days of contests began on 15 August. The organisers said 280 teams from 16 countries had brought more than 500 two-legged robots to vie in 26 events ranging from athletics and boxing to service-oriented tasks such as medicine sorting and hotel cleaning. Tickets cost between 128 and 580 yuan (US$18–81). Technical milestones included what officials called the world’s first fully autonomous five-a-side soccer match for humanoids and a 1,500-metre run won by Unitree Robotics’ H1 model in 6 minutes 34 seconds. Although frequent stumbles left some machines needing human help, many managed to right themselves, drawing applause from spectators and underscoring advances in balance and coordination. Beijing’s municipal government and industry bodies billed the meet as both a public showcase and a large-scale field test for embodied artificial intelligence. “We come here to play and to win, but we are also interested in research,” said Max Polter of Germany’s HTWK Robots team, noting that the data collected on collisions, endurance and cooperative play would feed back into factory and logistics applications. The event adds to a series of high-profile robotics gatherings backed by China as it invests billions of yuan to close the gap with the United States and other rivals in next-generation automation.