Robots' swift progress hailed

Robots compete in the 80-kilogram freestyle boxing quarterfinals at the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Sunday. [Photo/China Daily]

As biped robots shatter human world records at the second World Humanoid Robot Games, the event showcases not only China's rapid strides in embodied intelligence over the past year, but also the industry's swift progress toward real-world applications, according to Chinese and international executives and experts.

Their comments came after the games opened in Beijing on Saturday evening, with 2,056 robots from 666 teams, representing 16 countries across six continents, set to compete in 51 events through Wednesday.

On the track, the action delivered jaw-dropping moments. A Chinese humanoid robot ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds in a preliminary heat, beating the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Jamaican sprinting great Usain Bolt in 2009. The result was a sharp improvement from the inaugural games last year, when the 100-meter race was won in 21.50 seconds.

In a standing high jump, a robot cleared 2.88 meters, surpassing the human high jump record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor in 1993 as well as the 0.95-meter jump that was the best result by a humanoid in last year's games.

A Chinese humanoid robot also won the 400-meter final for large robots on Sunday in 38.15 seconds, outpacing the human world record of 43.03 seconds.

The 1,500-meter final added another record-breaking moment to the games, with 35 robots competing in seven heats and the top three all finishing ahead of the human world record of 3 minutes 26 seconds, led by the winner in 2:21.63.

Zhao Mingguo, a researcher at Tsinghua University's Department of Automation, said that just as human sports push the limits of the human body, the humanoid robot games are designed to extend the technological boundaries of smart machines across various scenarios and conditions.

According to Zhao, the defining difference this year is the shift to autonomy. Organizers have scrapped remote controls for most events, requiring robots to rely entirely on their own artificial intelligence to perceive their surroundings, make autonomous decisions and execute actions.