Humanoid robots dandinated themselves, stumbled and sometimes scraped a path through a 3 football tournament against 3 in Beijing on Saturday which looked more like the first day of Little League than on the rise of a Lionel robotic messi.
The pileums were frequent while the players overturned in the collisions in slow motion, the goals were opened and the defense seemed optional. Some robots set up the ball, others had trouble standing and two or three had to be loaded on a stretcher and swept away.
While the game was absurd, the technology fueled it was anything but.
Each team worked entirely independently, led by AI, Without intervention or human supervision – an impressive breakthrough somewhat masked by the Slapstick show playing on the field.
Equipped with advanced visual sensors, the The robots the size of a child were able to identify the ball and navigate the field with a certain agility. They were also designed to stay alone after falling, although some need the help of organic humans, one of which was dragged out of the field after having made a touch near the lens.
And under the blooming is a country that invests tens of billions of dollars And the race to extend its advance in the field of new generation robotics.
The Chinese robotics market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 23% and reach $ 108 billion by 2028, compared to $ 47 billion it is currently investing, according to research published by Morgan Stanley. By 2050, China should have 302.3 million humanoid robots used, well in advance on the American projection of 77.7 million, added the report, noting that these would probably be used for “repetitive, simple and structured work”, as in factories.
“It becomes obvious that national support for” embodied AI “can be much greater in China than in any other nation, which stimulates continuous innovation,” said Sheng Zhong, Chief of Industrial Research of Morgan Stanley. “In our opinion, the example of China in AI robotics may need to widen before competitors, including the United States, pay special attention.”
Sport becomes a key element in China’s push.
In April, 21 humanoid robots recently contributed alongside humans in a half-marathon in Beijing, although only six managed to finish. Saturday’s football match was also an overview of the next Humanoids 2025 robot games, which China will host in Beijing from August 15 to 17. The event will showcase 11 robot sports, including gymnastics, athletics and football.
Cheng Hao, founder and CEO of Booster Robotics – The company that provided robot players at the Saturday football tournament – said sports competitions are a test field for humanoid robots. Their successes and triples in the field help to accelerate the development of algorithms and integrated hardware software systems.
He also explained that security is a fundamental concern about humanoid robots.
“In the future, we can organize robots to play football with humans.
“A robot and a human could play a match where victory does not matter, but real offensive and defensive interactions take place. This would help the public to strengthen trust and understand that robots are safe,” he said.
Ironically, China’s humanoids can be more entertaining than their human counterparts.
With the male national team that languishes at the 94th in the FIFA ranking and likely to miss the next World Cup, robots know at least how to make a show – and mark.
In the final, the Thu Robotics of Tsinghua University beat the Mountain Sea 5–3 team from the China Agricultural University. No shortage of goals, and no complaints of the crowd acclaiming.
The Associated Press contributed.
