Before They Can Rule the World, Chinese Robots Need to Master Basic Chores
At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing this weekend, more than 500 humanoid robots competed in both sporting events and real-world tasks such as moving boxes, delivering luggage and cleaning rooms. Some were remarkably fast and agile, but most were clumsy and inconsistent.
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
The Athletes at China's Robot Games Fell Down a Lot
There's a very real concern that robots could eventually make some of our jobs obsolete. But at a robot-only sports competition in China over the weekend, the immediate concern was that they would fall over or crash into each other. The Humanoid Robot Games, a three-day event in Beijing that ended on Sunday, featured more than 280 teams from universities and private companies in 16 countries. Some robots landed back flips and successfully navigated obstacle courses and rough terrain. In other cases, the robots' athletic ability left, well, something to be desired. During soccer matches, child-size ones tripped over each other, falling down like dominoes. One goalkeeper robot stood placidly as its opponent kicked a ball at its legs several times before finally managing to score. One robot by China's Unitree Robotics plowed into a human staff member while sprinting during a track event, knocking him down. In kickboxing matches, robots wearing colorful gloves and head gear struggled to land punches. 'To be honest, the hit rate is a little low,' a commentator said in the event's official livestream. 'They're punching the air.' After a few minutes of flailing jabs and kicks, the referee declared one robot the winner. It raised its gloved hands and pumped them in the air to the sound of spectators applauding, while its opponent laid down in an apparent show of defeat. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Engadget
11 hours ago
- Engadget
China's inaugural 'Robot Olmypics' delivers impressive feats and disastrous falls
The first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games have come to a close with some new world records, but don't expect them to beat humans in a 100-meter dash any time soon. The three-day robotics event in Beijing, China that saw humanoid robots compete in everything from boxing to cleaning concluded this weekend. According to the World Humanoid Robot Games, more than 280 teams from 16 countries, including the US, Germany, Brazil and the host country, entered their robots into the event. A majority of the teams came from universities, but several teams came from established robotics companies like Unitree and Fournier Intelligence. Hundreds of robots competed in traditional sporting events like running, soccer and table tennis, along with events for more practical tasks, like cleaning or sorting medicine. Unitree snagged gold medals in four categories, including the 1,500-meter, 400-meter, 100-meter, and 4x100-meter dash events. According to Unitree, the fastest speed achieved by one of its robots during the event was 4.78 m/s, which is roughly 10 mph. In the 100-meter sprint, Unitree boasted a 33.71-second time, but that's nowhere near the world record holder Usain Bolt's time of 9.58 seconds, which was achieved in 2009. Instead, most teams took this event as an opportunity to showcase the abilities of their designs, while also stress-testing their robots in a competitive environment. We're still a long way from widespread adoption of these humanoid bots though, especially if they can't avoid running into each other.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘F1' On Course For $600M Global Amid Continued Strong Holds; ‘Superman' Also Soon To Milestone; Big WW Weekend For India's ‘Coolie' & Japan's ‘Demon Slayer'
…: It's been largely a holdover weekend for the studios at the global and international box office, with results for some that will soon translate to big milestones. It was also a notable frame for local titles from India and Japan. Studio-wise, last weekend's champ, New Line/Warner Bros' Weapons, was tops with another $18.4M in its offshore arsenal from 73 markets. The overseas cume is now $59.7M for $148.8M global. More from Deadline 'Shin Godzilla', Back In Tokyo Bay And U.S. Cinemas - Specialty Box Office 'Weapons' Loads $25M Second Weekend, 'Nobody 2' Stuck At $9M+ Opening - Sunday AM Box Office Update 'Weapons' Star Amy Madigan Talks Aunt Gladys Origin Story, If She'll Return For Prequel: "You Guys Figure It Out" In milestones, Universal/Amblin's Jurassic World Rebirth well surpassed $800M global, and both DC/Warner's Superman and Apple/WB's F1 are on their way to topping $600M worldwide, apiece. Before we get into the details on the above, let's look at what's happening with some local titles that either had terrific debuts or are continuing on in expansion. India's got two movies in the mix: Rajinikanth-starrer Coolie, and Hrithik Roshan and NTR Jr.-starrer War 2. Each opened with a bang. Estimates we are hearing put Coolie at $45.4M global, including about $27M from India. For War 2, comScore has $31.5M worldwide. As we always note, India is extremely ornery to track, and we will update accordingly. Either way, great starts for each. In other local news, this time in expanded overseas play via Crunchyroll/Sony, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle set new records with a $17.5M No. 1 opening in the eight Southeast Asian markets that debuted this weekend. The latest installment in the blockbuster anime franchise surpassed the entire regional lifetime for Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train as well as Frozen II for the highest all-time animated opening for this group of markets at current exchange rates. The launch was over twice as big as Inside Out 2, Super Mario Bros., Moana 2 and Ne Zha 2. In individual records, Indonesia, with $3.6M,logged the biggest anime opening ever and the highest opening weekend locally since Deadpool & Wolverine. Hong Kong, at $3.5M, had the largest anime opening ever and the top start since 2019. Thailand bowed to $3.2M, the best anime and animation opening of all time. Other anime records were set in Malaysia ($3.3M) and Vietnam ($2.5M). Infinity Castle has, of course, already broken records since its July release in Japan and still has several markets to release including the U.S., Mexico, Australia, UK, Spain, France and Germany. The global cume is estimated at $192.8M through Sunday. Turning back to the studio top-liners, New Line/WB's Weapons pulled in another $18.4M from 73 overseas markets for a 33% drop from opening weekend. The international running cume is $59.7M and the global cume to date is $148.8M through Sunday. Among strong individual holds were Chile (+2%), Sweden (-6%), Germany (-11%), Holland (-17%), Saudi Arabia (-22%), Philippines (-23%), Brazil (-25%), France (-28%), Italy (-29%), Mexico (-29%), Argentina (-30%) and Australia (-31%). In like-for-like markets and using today's exchange rates, the film is tracking ahead of Sinners (+47%), Smile (+42%), M3GAN (+41%) and 28 Years Later (+27%). The Imax cume is $13.8M global. Universal/DreamWorks Animation's The Bad Guys 2 continued its staggered offshore release this session, adding $13.7M from 67 markets (-34% in the holdovers). That brings the international running total to $60.2M, which is above the original at the same point. Globally, Bad Guys 2 crossed the century mark for $117.4M to date. New openers included China, where the gang bowed on Saturday amid stiff local competition (including an animated title), and stole away with $6.7M for the two-day debut — the biggest studio animation opening in the market this year. The start is above Elemental, and well above Trolls and The Bad Guys (which all opened on a Friday). The Maoyan score is 9.5 with the ticketing site predicting a $40M+ full run. Drops were very good in majors like France (-13%), Korea (-25%) and Spain (-29%) while increases were seen in Argentina (+10%) and Netherlands (+7%), among others. Still to release are Italy, Germany and Australia. The Top 5 to date are: UK ($11.8M), France ($6.7M), Spain ($5M), Mexico ($4.7M) and Korea ($2.4M). The Jurassic juggernaut continues for Universal with Jurassic World Rebirth adding another $9.9M in 83 offshore markets this 7th session. That's a 39% dip from last frame and takes the international cume to $496.5M. Global is now well across the eight-century mark, with $828.6M worldwide through Sunday. This weekend, JWR surpassed the overseas box office cumes of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Jumanji: The Next Level. Japan was a standout in its second frame despite local competition, already reaching $20.8M. All markets have been released, and the Top 5 to date are: China ($79M), UK ($46.4M), Mexico ($36M), Germany ($31.6M) and France ($27.7M). Marvel/Disney's The Fantastic Four: First Steps has reached a global cume through its fourth Sunday of $468.7M, still skewing domestic with a little over 47% from the international box office where the running cume is $221.7M. This overseas frame was $9.3M with all markets released. F4:FS is the highest-grossing superhero genre title of the year across Latin America and was again No. 1 in Brazil this weekend. The overall overseas drop was 48% and included good holds in such majors as France (-26%), Spain (-28%), Italy (-39%), Japan (-42%), Brazil (-43%), Mexico (-47%), Australia (-49%), UK (-49%) and Germany (-50%). The Top 5 offshore markets to date are: UK ($27.9M), Mexico ($26.2M), France ($14.3M), Brazil ($12.8M) and Australia ($10.6M). Meanwhile, last weekend's new Disney pic, Freakier Friday, grossed $9.3M in 47 material overseas markets, taking the offshore cume to $31.5M and global to $86.3M. The reteam of Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis dipped by just 37% internationally, and has been performing strongly in Latin America. This weekend it held the No. 1 spot in that region as a whole with great holds in some markets including Brazil (-22%) and Mexico (-32%). Currently playing in about 85% of the overseas footprint, Freakier Friday opens next weekend in Taiwan and has such majors as Korea (August 27) and Japan (September 5) on deck. The Top 5 to date are: Mexico ($5.7M), UK ($5.5M), Australia ($2.6M), Argentina ($1.8M) and Colombia ($1.4M). Capping off the trifecta of movies grossing $9.3M internationally this weekend, Apple Original Films' F1, via Warner Bros clocked only a 23% drop from last weekend – seriously impressive in the 8th frame. The international total is currently $407.2M and the global running cume is $590M through Sunday. In Korea, where audiences are driving hard, F1 is now the No. 1 movie of 2025, ahead of all local titles. In addition, this is the biggest film ever for Brad Pitt in the market and the 4th biggest WB film ever. WB/DC's Superman is also headed to $600M global, now at $594.5M through Sunday. MORE… Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More Everything We Know About Prime Video's 'Legally Blonde' Prequel Series 'Elle'
