[Photo via the World Humanoid Robot Games]

Launched on August 22, the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games are underway and will run until August 26 at the National Speed Skating Oval (also known as the "Ice Ribbon") in Beijing. This year's games have brought together 666 teams from 16 countries across six continents, with more than 2,000 robots competing head-to-head — quadrupling the number of robots of the inaugural session, with a 138-percent increase in the number of participating teams.

Multiple competition records are being broken one after another, mirroring the successive breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies.

[Photo via the World Humanoid Robot Games]

During the preliminary group round of the 100-meter race at the opening ceremony, Tianzhuo Team's robot finished in 9.39 seconds, faster than Usain Bolt's 100-meter world record of 9.58 seconds, and way faster than last year's time, which was 21.5 seconds. Across the board, results have shown a marked improvement compared with the inaugural games.

For the standing high jump, last year's champion registered 95.641 centimeters, whereas this year, the Tiangong robot achieved 2.8843 meters, showing a dramatic improvement. In the long jump event, the top result last year was 1.25 meters, whereas some competitors have leapt over 7 meters this year.

A robot also impressed spectators with a spinning kick during a freestyle combat demonstration, showcasing its remarkable balance and body control.

This year's games feature a rich lineup of events, such as races, long jump and high jump. The football event has been upgraded from 3v3 last year to 5v5 this year, posing greater challenges to robots' capabilities of multi-robot collaboration, visual perception, and spatial positioning. Events such as weightlifting and tug-of-war are tests of robots' strength, while touhu (traditional Chinese pitch-pot) is centered on the robots' dexterity and manipulation skills. Spectators can check the official event calendar for the daily competition schedules.

(Source: Beijing Daily)