China's Robot Football League Is Straight Out Of A Sci-Fi Film
The viral video shows a couple of humanoid robots playing soccer, while some struggle to kick balls and hold ground.
In an unusual turn of events, China has hosted its first 3v3 AI robot soccer match, with four teams of humanoid robots taking on each other in Beijing. Videos of the match have been going viral on social media, showing glimpses from the ROBO League robot soccer tournament. As per reports, the match was organised as a part of the testing ground for the upcoming 2025 World Humanoid Robot Sports Games. The robots, which were solely driven by AI technology, did not have any human pilots.
The video of the humanoid soccer game shows the robots struggling to kick the ball or stand straight while also suffering falls that could easily earn their counterparts a yellow card for diving. In one of the videos, at least two robots were taken away for failing to regain their feet after hitting the ground.
soccer tournament in Beijing with fully autonomous robots pic.twitter.com/1zvFxSINHk
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) July 2, 2025
It won't be wrong to say that while China's men's football team hasn't generated much excitement in recent times, the humanoid robot teams have won over fans in Beijing, both offline and online. One wrote, 'This is the funniest clip I've seen today," while another added, 'That sounds fascinating! I bet the technology is impressive."
'This groundbreaking event has garnered significant attention, highlighting China's leadership in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence," another comment read.
On the contrary, not everyone seems to be impressed with such technological advancements. One of them commented, 'As machines become more and more advanced, some things are best left to be done by humans. This is a disgrace to the beautiful game."
Speaking about the same, Cheng Hao, the founder and chief executive of Booster Robotics, the company that supplied the humanoid players, explained that the competitions offer the ideal testing ground. 'In the future, we may arrange for robots to play football with humans. That means we must ensure the robots are completely safe," he added as per The Guardian.
The particular soccer game was held in China's capital on Saturday night. The event is being touted as a first for China and a preview for the Games. The competition was fought between university teams, which had adapted the robots with their algorithms.
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