Beijing's Smart E-sports Event Center transformed into a proving ground for artificial intelligence this week as humanoid robots competed in China's first fully autonomous 3v3 football tournament. The event, a test run for the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games, showcased remarkable progress in bipedal robotics through coordinated plays and real-time decision-making.
AI Athletes Take the Field
Standing 1.2-1.5 meters tall, the robots demonstrated unprecedented autonomy – strategizing attacks, recovering from falls, and executing coordinated passes without human intervention. A refined penalty system enabled continuous gameplay, revealing advancements in balance control and environmental adaptation crucial for real-world applications.
University Teams Lead Innovation
Four academic powerhouses dominated the competition:
Beijing Information Science & Technology University's Blaze Team impressed with agile evasion algorithms
Tsinghua University's Power Intelligent Team perfected communication protocols for precision passing
China Agricultural University's Mountain-Sea Team prioritized energy efficiency without compromising performance
The event builds on April's groundbreaking humanoid robot half-marathon, where 20 teams completed a 21.1km course in Beijing's Daxing District. Together, these milestones position China at the forefront of functional robotics research with implications for manufacturing, disaster response, and assistive technologies.
