Overview
- The second World Humanoid Robot Games opened in Beijing on Saturday and runs through August 26 with 2,056 humanoid machines entered by 666 teams.
- This year’s rules require most track and task events to be completed fully autonomously and impose much tighter time limits to test real-world skills like precise hand work and safe stopping.
- Honor’s humanoid nicknamed Lightning posted a preparatory 100m run of 9.32 seconds, a performance reported by state media that highlights how quickly raw speed has advanced.
- Viral training footage showed a separate robot sprint into a padded safety wall, bend at the waist and emit sparks, underscoring ongoing control and robustness failures when machines try to brake or recover at high speed.
- China’s rapid push is backed by state support, subsidies and a strong supply chain that is fast-tracking commercialization while raising practical questions about workplace safety, export limits and investor interest.