Robot Racing to the Track: New Technology Meets Market

Shanghai Securities News reporter, Han Zhongnan

Recently, funny video clips of humanoid robots competing in a tournament have gone viral on the internet. The videos show some humanoid robots tripping over their own feet, others scoring an own goal in football, and some even knocking over the hurdles in the high jump event... These imperfect "failures" have become the highlight of the first-ever global humanoid robot competition.

This gathering of over 500 humanoid robots from around the world has broken out of the traditional framework of competitive sports, encouraging participating teams to innovate and push the limits of their robots through cross-disciplinary collaboration. The logic of "compete to explore" has not only tested the capabilities of humanoid robots but also paved the way for the development of technology from verification to practical application.

The hundred-meter dash not only tests explosive power, but also exposes the limitations of algorithms in adapting to complex terrain; the long jump event focuses on mechanical structure and balance control coordination, revealing the contradiction between joint flexibility and stability; the multi-robot football game puts group intelligence into dynamic gameplay, testing real-time communication and decision-making coordination among robots.

This problem-oriented competition logic has precisely struck at the pain points of the humanoid robot industry. Currently, the humanoid robot industry is at a critical stage of transitioning from laboratory to large-scale applications, with key issues such as hardware reliability, algorithm robustness, and scenario adaptability requiring real-world combat testing.

This competition has deeper implications. On one hand, it drives participating teams to strengthen their technical research and development, breaking through existing technological bottlenecks. On the other hand, it attracts a large audience to watch the competition in person, with people laughing at the "accidents" of humanoid robots. The laughter and empathy also reveal that more and more people are embracing new technologies, which will provide fertile soil for the commercialization of humanoid robots.

The first-ever humanoid robot competition may have come to a close, but it has told us through its unexpected twists: the value of technology lies not in its perfection but in whether it can grow together with humans. The long road ahead for humanoid robots still requires better human-machine collaboration to enable them to move from the track to broader applications.