China kicks off historic football match featuring autonomous humanoid robots

In a convergence between technology, sports and entertainment, students from Tsinghua University's THU Robotics team and Beijing Information Science and Technology University's Blaze team competed in a robot football match, where humanoid robots were fully autonomous.

The event, held as part of the RoBoLeague, saw teams from Tsinghua University’s THU Robotics team and Beijing Information Science and Technology University’s Blaze team go head-to-head, with the humanoid robots playing the entire game independently.

The championship title was claimed by the THU Robotics team, with China Agricultural University’s Mountain Sea team finishing in second place. The Blaze team from Beijing Information Science and Technology University and the Power team from the Future Laboratory, Tsinghua University, shared third place.

The competition has quickly gained traction among fans, attracting robotics enthusiasts eager to witness the cutting-edge integration of artificial intelligence with sports. The event’s unique blend of AI technology and athletic competition has captivated both tech aficionados and sports lovers alike.

Bian Yuansong, chairman of Shangyicheng Group, the event’s organiser, emphasised that RoBoLeague serves as a testing ground for pioneering technologies like bipedal dynamic balancing and multi-agent collaborative decision-making. “The event not only provides crucial technical validation for the football segment of future humanoid robot games, but also lays a solid foundation for enhancing the sensitivity and capabilities of embodied robots,” Bian explained to the People’s Daily Online.

Beyond the competition, Bian revealed that the technologies showcased during RoBoLeague will soon have real-world applications, potentially benefiting industrial production and daily life. Shangyicheng Group plans to expand the competition format, introducing new robot challenges like a half-marathon, to further promote the development and practical use of humanoid robotics in diverse scenarios.