Robot Olympics
The World Humanoid Robot Games — the world's first full sports-and-scenario competition for humanoid robots, held at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval. Hundreds of teams, thousands of robots, and the fastest humanoids on Earth.
2nd World Humanoid Robot Games
OngoingAugust 22–26, 2026 · National Speed Skating Oval ("Ice Ribbon"), Beijing, China
A humanoid robot broke the human 100 m record (9.39 s) during the opening ceremony, smashing Usain Bolt's 9.58 s mark from 2009. The field roughly tripled to 666 teams and 2,056 robots.
Highlights
- Events expanded from 26 to 51 total (30 competitive + 21 scenario-based), with added martial arts, dancesport, gymnastics, weightlifting, tug-of-war and pitch-pot.
- The 100 m turned fully autonomous for the first time; preliminary rounds were removed and time limits tightened across track events.
- Robot football players now dribble, shoot hard and make diving saves — organisers compared the upgrade from "preschoolers" to "youths".
- Scenario-based events moved from simulated venues into real factories, hotels, model homes, emergency sites, hospitals and retail spaces.
- A 7-a-side football exhibition and 400 m/100 m preliminaries opened the Games; freestyle-fighting and 5-a-side football finals preceded the closing ceremony.
- The 100 m preliminary was won by a Tianzhuo-team robot in 9.39 s (one body length ahead of Wind-Fire Lightning).
Winners & key results
| Event / team | Winner / result |
|---|---|
| 100 m preliminary | Tianzhuo team — 9.39 s (beats human world record 9.58 s) |
| Opening ceremony | AgiBot Expedition A3 exchanged ping-pong rallies with Olympic champion Ding Ning |
Inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games
CompletedAugust 14 (opening) / August 15–17, 2025 · National Speed Skating Oval ("Ice Ribbon"), Beijing, China
The world's first full sports-and-scenario games for humanoid robots: 280 teams, 16 countries, 500+ robots across 26 disciplines and 487 matches at Beijing's Ice Ribbon.
Highlights
- 192 university teams + 88 corporate teams, including many of China's leading humanoid manufacturers, plus international teams from Germany, Australia, the US, Brazil and more.
- First ever 5v5 fully autonomous humanoid robot football match — no human intervention, all AI-driven.
- Events spanned athletics (100 m, 400 m, 1,500 m, 4×100 m relay), football, gymnastics, dance, martial arts, plus real-task scenarios: material handling, medicine sorting, cleaning, hotel service.
- Tiangong and Tianxiao used fully autonomous movement in the 100 m final; two other finalists were teleoperated.
Winners & key results
| Event / team | Winner / result |
|---|---|
| 100 m | Tiangong (Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre) — 21.50 s |
| 1,500 m | Unitree H1 — 6 min 34 s |
| 400 m | Unitree H1 — gold |
| 100 m hurdles | Unitree H1 — gold |
| 4×100 m relay | Unitree H1 — gold |
| 5v5 football final | Tsinghua University Hephaestus 1–0 Germany HTWK Robotics + Nao Devils |
| 3v3 football | China Agricultural University Mountain & Sea — championship |
| Floor exercise | Noetix / Songyan Dynamics "Little Rascal" — reported gold medalist |
| Unitree Robotics H1 robots: 400 m, 1,500 m, 100 m hurdles, 4×100 m relay | 🥇 4 gold · 11 total medals |
| X-Humanoid (Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre) Tiangong Ultra: 100 m (21.50 s) + materials handling | 🥇 2 gold · 10 total medals |
What is the "Robot Olympics"?
The World Humanoid Robot Games — nicknamed the "Robot Olympics" — is a global competition organised by the Beijing government that pits humanoid robots against each other in sports, martial arts, dance and real-world task scenarios. It is the first international event of its kind and was launched in August 2025 at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval (the "Ice Ribbon"), a venue built for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Games are part of China's broader push to lead the global humanoid-robotics race, backed by state subsidies and a planned trillion-yuan fund. Beyond spectacle, organisers frame the competitions as "test fields" to evaluate robot balance, dexterity, decision-making and interaction — skills meant to transfer to real factory floors, hospitals, hotels and homes.
Notable participating brands and teams across editions include Unitree Robotics (Hangzhou), the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre (Tiangong / X-Humanoid), Tsinghua University, China Agricultural University, Germany's HTWK Robotics + Nao Devils, Portugal's University of Minho and the Dutch Nao Team.
Browse the humanoids that compete
Find and compare humanoid robots in the RobotHub catalog.