What to expect as second World Humanoid Robot Games set to open

The second World Humanoid Robot Games is set to open on Saturday at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, bringing together more than 2,000 robots from around the world for an expanded lineup of sporting and real-world challenges.

The five-day event will feature 51 events and a total of 1,301 competitions across nine competition sessions, up from three days and six sessions at the inaugural games.

This year's program will combine athletic competition, artistic performances and real-world applications. The 51 events will include 30 competitive sports and 21 scenario-based challenges.

Alongside traditional events such as the 100-meter sprint and football, new competitions including tug-of-war and weightlifting will make their debut.

The program will also incorporate traditional Chinese sports, with Taijiquan, a traditional Chinese martial art, and Touhu (pitch-pot), a traditional Chinese arrow-throwing game, among the new events. Ball sports will expand beyond football to include table tennis and tennis, putting humanoid robots' fine motor control to the test, while also showcasing their autonomous perception and real-time decision-making capabilities.

The scenario-based competitions will add 14 new events covering nine sectors, including households, hotels and logistics. Two new challenges will focus on key technological hurdles in the real-world application of humanoid robots.

One will be a dedicated dexterous-hand competition, testing robots' ability to perform precise manipulation tasks. The other, a newly introduced pentathlon-style challenge, will combine sprinting with scenario-based tasks to assess robots' understanding of the physical world and their ability to coordinate full-body movements.

The event will attract 666 teams from 16 countries across six continents, bringing a total of 2,056 robots into competition. The number of participating teams is up 138% from the inaugural event, while the number of robots has quadrupled.