Good news for fans of humanoid sports: the World Humanoid Robot Games will be held again this year between 14th-17th August 2026 at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Tsinghua University hosted the first World Humanoid Robot Games in August 2025 and featured more than 500 humanoid robots from around 280 teams competing in sports such as football, boxing, running, and obstacle events.
The 5v5 football tournament was the most technically demanding event as the robots were designed to play autonomously, meaning that the decisions were made by AI and not controlled by humans. This was accomplished by the robots using onboard cameras, sensors, and AI to recognize the ball, navigate the pitch, pass to teammates, avoid opponents, and recover after falling.
A humanoid is a robot that has been made to mimic the general shape of a human with a head, limbs and a torso.
Although it was an impressive watch, the quality of the game had been poor due to the robots stumbling, colliding with each other and missing the ball, showing that humanoid robots are still developing. It seems humanoids have a way to go before we see them in the World Cup anytime soon.
The purpose of these games was to display the advances in robotics to later be used in factories, hospitals and homes rather than to replace human football. The games highlighted to researchers that the robots need improved mobility and autonomous decision making.
The final of the competition was won by Tsinghua University’s Hephaestus Team who demonstrated that there has been significant progress in autonomous teamwork and balance, which will be crucial in a hospital setting.
Perhaps we’ll see humanoids on a hospital ward soon…
