China staged its first fully autonomous humanoid soccer tournament on 28 June, pitting four university teams against one another in three-a-side, 20-minute matches at an industrial park in Beijing. Every pass, block and stumble was dictated by on-board algorithms, with no human intervention once play began — a milestone for embodied artificial intelligence. Tsinghua University’s THU Robotics squad defeated China Agricultural University’s Mountain Sea team 5–3 in the final to lift the RoBoLeague trophy. All sides used identical Booster T1 robots supplied by Beijing-based Booster Robotics, while student engineers customised software for perception, balance and tactics. Several machines were stretchered off after falls, underscoring both the progress and the engineering challenges that remain. Organisers said the event served as a test run for the World Humanoid Robot Games, which Beijing will host on 15–17 August. About 30 teams have applied to enter the robot-soccer discipline, one of 11 sports that will also include athletics and gymnastics, according to the organising committee. The push fits into China’s broader bet on next-generation robotics. Morgan Stanley estimates the country’s robotics market will more than double to about US$108 billion by 2028, fuelled by government incentives and private investment. Booster Robotics founder Cheng Hao said competitive sport offers a fast-track environment for refining humanoid hardware and software, adding that future matches may one day pit machines against human players once safety standards are proven.