by sportswriters Li Chunyu and Hu Jiali
BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Within 30 minutes, humanoid robots were required to complete luggage handling, restocking and guest-room tidying in a hotel, one of 21 scenario-based competitions at the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.
The scenario-based competitions may not be as eye-catching as robots surpassing human records in track and field at the National Speed Skating Oval, a Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic venue known as the "Ice Ribbon," but they share the same goal of driving technological advances and helping robots better integrate into everyday life.
In specific scenarios, many tasks that are easy for humans posed considerable challenges for robots. In the hotel event, for example, robots carried out tasks including placing luggage onto a transport cart and pushing it to a designated room, picking up clean towels and hanging them on a rack, as well as collecting waste and neatly making guest-room beds.
Many participating teams encountered new issues during the on-site competition. "Some robots come with relatively large base platforms, whereas hotel corridors are rather narrow. This places high demands on the robot's positioning accuracy, or it would collide with the door or transport cart," said a team member Zhang Yizhuo.
Such details may not be taken into account during laboratory tests, but problems can surface immediately in real-world scenarios.
"The competitions can push the research efforts to address genuine industry demands. Hopefully, the testing at the Games can help to shorten the process from technological outcomes to commercial deployment," said a hotel-scenario competition director Li Ziye.
Running from Saturday to Wednesday, the Games featured a wider range of scenario-based competitions than its inaugural edition last year, covering sectors such as logistics, hospitality and household services.
Another notable feature was the increasing number of humanoid robots equipped with dexterous fingers instead of simple grippers. In dexterous-hand competitions, humanoid robots took part in events including powder weighing, block building, nail driving and bottle opening.
Zuo Jiaping, co-founder of Linkerbot Beijing Technology Co., Ltd., said, "As humanoid robots learn to perform tasks on their own, an intelligent brain and dexterous hands reinforce each other."
Humanoid robots with more advanced configurations are also becoming capable of operating a catering outlet independently. For example, a robot is required to respond to food orders, pick up food and heat it in a microwave oven, dispense no less than 200 milliliters of a beverage, and finally deliver it to customers.
"The catering event focuses on robots' capabilities in speech recognition, tool utilization, and operation in confined spaces," said Gong Xiao, deputy director of China Software Testing Center. "For robots from all over the world, every task on the competition ground corresponds to a challenge from real life."
A report by California-based research firm Smart Analytics Global indicates that global humanoid robot shipments totaled approximately 19,100 units in the first half of 2026, with Chinese-made units accounting for over 97 percent of the total.
At this year's Games, Chinese companies occupied leading positions on the medal table, further demonstrating the performance of China's humanoid robots.
"The progress of humanoid robots has exceeded expectations. The competitions translate technical parameters into sports and applications accessible to the public. Robots are no longer tech exhibits, but an integral part of our life," said Liu Xingliang, a digital economy scholar at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. ■
