2,056 Humanoids Are Headed to Beijing’s Robot Games
The second World Humanoid Robot Games just posted a roster that is hard to ignore. Organizers told a Beijing media conference on August 13 that 666 teams and 2,056 robots from 16 countries will compete August 22–26. That is about four times last year’s turnout.
Jiang Guangzhi, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, said the field includes teams from the United States, Germany, and Japan. Brazil is sending a national team built from five RoboCup squads.
What they will actually do
The program is more than a 100-meter dash. Organizers say this year has more than 30 events. New ones include long jump, weightlifting, tug of war, and table tennis, which Jiang said are there to stress motion control, structure, and core parts.
The other half of the schedule is supposed to look like work. Scenario contests expand into mock factories, hotels, homes, and logistics sites. Tasks listed by Xinhua include assembling, housekeeping, emergency response, and sorting books in a library setup.
Domestic numbers dominate the grid. Beijing Review, citing Jiang, put Chinese participation at 641 teams and 1,975 robots from 157 enterprises and 200 universities and research institutions, including 27 major Chinese universities.
“Once robots master these ‘last-meter’ skills, they can turn medals into orders and move directly from the competition arena to real-world workplaces,” Jiang said, according to Xinhua via Beijing Review.
The first games, in August 2025, drew 280 teams and more than 500 humanoids from 16 countries.
Why the scale jumped
ANews, citing Xinhua, notes a Chinese official said in July that the country’s humanoid output is expected to exceed 100,000 units this year. The same report cites Smart Analytics Global as saying Chinese makers accounted for more than 97 percent of global humanoid shipments in the first half of 2026.
That is the commercial backdrop, not the scoreboard. Last year’s Guardian write-up of the inaugural meet is a useful reminder of what the spectacle still looks like: kickboxers falling over missed roundhouses, a 1,500-meter runner whose head came off, and plenty of handlers hauling robots off the floor to recharge.
A Human’s Take
I want the new events more than the headcount. Tug-of-war and hotel housekeeping are uglier problems than a staged 100-meter. If a robot can keep its feet in a pull and still fold towels without punching the linen cart, that is a better receipt than another formation photo. I’ll be watching how many of those “last-meter” tasks finish without a human dragging the machine offstage.