Ready, set, fight: Unitree's humanoid robots test skills in unique kickboxing competition
Organised by state-owned China Media Group and broadcast live by
China Central Television (CCTV), the competition saw four Unitree G1 humanoid robots square off in one-on-one matches where they punched, kicked and even did a kip-up – an acrobatic transition from prone position to a standing position – after getting knocked down.
The G1 robots – each standing 130 centimetres tall, weighing 35 kilograms, and wearing protective headgear and standard kickboxing gloves – were put through their paces via remote control and voice commands by their human controllers at ringside.
Unlike typical remote-controlled toys, handling Unitree's G1 robots entails 'a whole set of motion-control algorithms powered by large [
artificial intelligence ] models', said Liu Tai, deputy chief engineer at China Telecommunication Technology Labs, which is under research institute China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
Before their refereed matches started, each G1 robot 'warmed up' by showing their capabilities in punching, feinting by using side steps, kicking and staying balanced when pushed.
The G1 kickboxers fought in three two-minute rounds, in which one scored by landing strikes to its opponent's head or trunk using either hands or feet. The highest-scoring robot won. A winner was also decided when a knocked down robot failed to stand up after 8 seconds.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
19 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
More investor attention coming to China advancements in AI, humanoid tech: Morgan Stanley
China's advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and humanoid technology will continue to capture the imaginations of investors as the world turns its focus to the region, according to Morgan Stanley 's director of pan-Asia research. Advertisement 'The DeepSeek announcement has shifted the fundamental discussion about China to technological innovation,' said Magdalena Stoklosa in an interview last month. 'This theme is multi-year and incredibly important.' Her team identified technological diffusion and the spread of AI across economies as key long-term research themes. AI start-up DeepSeek's breakthroughs earlier this year in large-language models sparked a rally in Chinese stocks. In February, the US investment bank upgraded Chinese stocks to equal weight from underweight, due to improving valuations and a significant shift towards new-economy companies. 'We still see that China is underweight from a perspective of global emerging markets positioning and it should effectively be at least close,' Stoklosa said. Advertisement Over the next 12 to 18 months, she said it was important to keep an eye on how various AI models work, spread through the economy and become monetised. 'In China, the discussion is layered with government support for AI infrastructure, a thriving innovation scene with start-ups, mega industry players, and a strategic push to build open-source models that make access to AI quicker and more affordable for many corporations,' she added.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Samsung nears wide-ranging deal with Perplexity for AI features
Samsung Electronics is nearing a wide-ranging deal to invest in Perplexity AI and put search technology from the artificial intelligence start-up at the forefront of the South Korean company's devices. The two companies are in talks to preload Perplexity's app and assistant on upcoming Samsung devices and integrate the start-up's search features into the Samsung web browser, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The firms have also discussed weaving Perplexity's technology into Samsung's Bixby virtual assistant, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Samsung is planning to announce the Perplexity integrations as early as this year, the people said, with the goal of including the service as a default assistant option in the Galaxy S26 phone line that is slated to launch in the first half of 2026. However, the specific details haven't been finalised and could still change. The tech giant is also expected to be one of the biggest investors in a new round of funding for Perplexity, the people said. The start-up is in advanced discussions to raise US$500 million at a US$14 billion valuation, Bloomberg News has reported. Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge on display at its store in Seoul, South Korea, May 13, 2025. Photo: Reuters The broad tie-up may help Samsung reduce its reliance on Alphabet's Google and pave the way for it to work with a mix of AI developers, similar to Apple's strategy for its devices and services. For Perplexity, the arrangement would mark its biggest mobile partnership to date and follows a recent integration deal with Motorola.
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
XPrize founder Peter Diamandis projects hope for AI, biotech amid US-China tech war
Peter Diamandis, the entrepreneur behind the XPrize Foundation, has long championed a future of technological promise, building a career on innovation competitions meant to solve grand challenges. But in a recent conversation in Hong Kong, a subtle shift in tone emerged as he addressed the current complexities of global scientific collaboration, clouded by geopolitical tensions and the looming threat of technological decoupling. Advertisement 'One of the things that is important to realise is that human biology is conserved across 8 billion people, as is math and physics and chemistry,' he said. 'So a breakthrough by a brilliant entrepreneur or scientist in Beijing is fully usable and accessible by a brilliant scientist in Boston. That elevates humanity as a whole.' His cosmopolitan vision of scientific progress stands in contrast to the current political climate, in which the US, under the administration of President Donald Trump, has sought to curb international student visas and made drastic cuts to scientific funding and universities. 'There's a huge amount of concern,' Diamandis said, pointing specifically to the cuts at the National Institutes of Health. 'Unless it gets corrected and changed back, I think that the cuts being made … will have long-term implications to the speed of scientific discoveries.' Diamandis spoke with the Post on May 28 while visiting Hong Kong for the UBS Asian Investment Conference. He is perhaps best known for incentivising breakthroughs through his XPrize competitions, which served as an early catalyst for the private space flight industry that spawned companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Discussing the more positive aspects of technological progress is clearly where he feels most comfortable. Advertisement 'Our brains are wired for fear and scarcity, and my job through my work is to help people see the world in a different fashion,' he said.
