Tsinghua University wins China's first humanoid robot 3-on-3 football event

Four teams of humanoid robots faced off in a fully autonomous 3-on-3 football game powered entirely by artificial intelligence in Beijing on Saturday night.

Touted as China's first 3-on-3 football game between humanoid robots, the event served as a preview for the upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games, set to take place in the Chinese capital this August.

According to the organizers, a key highlight of the competition was that all participating robots operated fully autonomously using AI-driven strategies – without any human intervention or supervision.

Equipped with advanced visual sensors, the robots were able to identify the ball and navigate the field. They were also designed to stand up on their own after falling.

During the game, however, several still had to be carried off the field on stretchers by staff.

China has been stepping up its efforts to develop AI-powered humanoid robots, using sporting competitions like marathons, boxing matches, and football games as a real-world proving ground.

Cheng Hao, founder and CEO of Booster Robotics, the company that supplied the robot players, said sporting events provide an ideal testing ground for humanoid robots, helping accelerate the development of both algorithms and integrated hardware-software systems. He also emphasized safety as a core concern in the use of humanoid robots.

"In the future, we may arrange for robots to play football with humans. That means we must ensure the robots are completely safe," Cheng said. "For example, a robot and a human could play a match where winning doesn't matter, but real offensive and defensive interactions take place. That would help audiences build trust and understand that robots are safe."

Booster Robotics provided the hardware for all four university teams, while research teams from each school developed and embedded their own algorithms for perception, decision-making, player formations, and passing strategies – including variables such as speed, force, and direction, according to Cheng.

In the final, Tsinghua University's THU Robotics defeated the China Agricultural University's Mountain Sea Team 5-3 to win the championship.