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https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/aug/29/hilarity-unease-and-relief-games-show-china-is-not-over-the-finish-line-in-humanoid-robot-race>
"With exploding pelvises, enough comic pratfalls for a Buster Keaton show reel
and the odd moment of ruthless violence, the World Humanoid Robot Games in
Beijing gripped the world this week with an unsettling mixture of hilarity,
trepidation and relief.
The five-day showcase staked out China’s claim to undisputed leadership in
humanoid robotics as android martial artists landed knockout roundhouse kicks
and robot teams marched into the arena heralded by flag-waving captains astride
giant robotic dogs. The games’ blue-riband event, the 100m, did not disappoint
when the robot-sprinters ran quicker than Usain Bolt before slamming mindlessly
into a padded wall in a blaze of sparks, flames and flying mechanical limbs.
There, in a 10-second clip perfect for the games’ global online audience, was
proof of what onlooking international experts described as the superpower’s
“staggering” engineering progress, combined with comfort that the
disintegrating robots might not yet be ready to become humanity’s overlords.
“Ready for another big day of fail,” read a typically schadenfreude-laced
comment from one of millions who tuned into viral social media clips and
livestreams of events from boxing to breakdancing in which the humanoids
displayed a jerky mix of ruthless effectiveness and pathetic failure.
Others caught themselves experiencing unexpected empathy. One captioned a robot
struggling through the 400m obstacle race: “after drinking 4 bottles of wine at
2 a.m”. Another found a weightlifting contest “way more emotional than I
expected” as the bots strained to achieve their sporting goals.
If the games had a slogan it might be: faster, higher, funnier. The obstacle
course involving humanoids scrambling under nets, down stairs and over stepping
stones reminded the comedian Charlie Higson of Monty Python’s
Upper Class Twit
of the Year sketch: “It’s only lacking ‘taking the bra off the debs’ and
‘shooting themselves’.” He came back the next day for more. “They get better
and better,” he tweeted as a cheerleader robot wielding glittery pom-poms
flailed around like it was having a fit.
But the games were not intended to only entertain. Involving over 2,000
humanoids built by more than 660 mostly domestic tech companies, it was a
propaganda flex of China’s robotics muscle just weeks before its president, Xi
Jinping, lands in Washington DC for a summit with Donald Trump, where the
superpowers’ race to tech supremacy will be high on the agenda. Only last month
Trump banned imports of Chinese humanoids and four-legged robot dogs, citing
cyber and national security concerns. The event was also a billboard to boost
global sales of Chinese robots as US rivals prepare their own launches, notably
Elon Musk’s long-hyped Optimus humanoid which is reported to have finally gone
into production this month. Last year China produced 12,800 humanoids, about
90% of the global total, according to the Mercator Institute for Chinese
Studies, a dominance which perhaps gave China the confidence to candidly
broadcast so many comic failures, which surprised some onlookers."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
