Robot Falls, Mass Collision, And Sprint Fails In Total At China's ' Robot Olympics'!
JAKARTA - China opened the World Humanoid Robot Games event on Friday, August 15, a three-day competition featuring the country's progress in artificial intelligence and robotics. A total of 280 teams from 16 countries participated in this event, which was held at the National Speed Skating Oval, Beijing.
Matches include not only sports such as athletics and table tennis, but also robotic specific challenges such as sorting drugs, handling materials, to cleaning services. Participants come from various countries, including the United States, Germany, and Brazil, with 192 teams representing universities and 88 from private companies such as Unitree and Fourier Intelligence. Many teams use Chinese manufacturer-made robots, including Booster Robotics.
"We came to play and win, but also for research," said Max Polter of the HTWK robotic football team, which is affiliated with Leipzig University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Here we can test many new approaches. If we fail, we only lose in matches, not a big loss of funds for failed products.
The atmosphere of the competition was full of surprises. In a robotic football match, four robots collided with each other and fell simultaneously, forming a pile in the middle of the field. In the 1,500-meter running competition, one robot suddenly collapsed while running fast, triggering cheers and laughter from the audience.
Although it often falls and must be assisted by humans to stand up, some robots are able to get up on their own, receiving lively applause from the audience. Tickets for this event sell for 128 to 580 yuan (around Rp293 thousand' Rp1.32 million).
The committee said this event was not just entertainment, but an opportunity to collect valuable data for the development of practical robotic applications, such as factory work. Football matches are considered to train robot coordination, which in the future can be useful for cooperation in industrial assembly lines.
China has reportedly invested billions of US dollars in humanoids and robotics, in response to the challenges of the aging population and technological competition with the United States. In recent months, China has also hosted a series of major robotic-themed events, including the world's world's first humanoid robot marathon, robotic conferences, and the opening of a dedicated retail store for humanoid robots.
Morgan Stanley analysts last week recorded a surge in public attendance at the latest robotic conferences compared to previous years. This phenomenon shows that the concept of 'real intelligence' has been widely adopted, not only among government officials, but also the general public in China.