{"id":15041,"date":"2025-07-22T09:10:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T09:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/15041\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T09:10:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T09:10:20","slug":"chinas-football-playing-robots-reign-supreme-at-robocup-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/15041\/","title":{"rendered":"China&#8217;s football-playing robots reign supreme at RoboCup in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                                                                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A K1 robot from Booster Robotics operates before leaving for the Brazil Robocup at a precompetition exploration camp in Beijing on July 9. [AP\/YONHAP]\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3b5a1788-f14c-439e-b9fa-ed3018d20231.jpg\"\/>                                              <\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">A K1 robot from Booster Robotics operates before leaving for the Brazil Robocup at a precompetition exploration camp in Beijing on July 9. [AP\/YONHAP]<\/p>\n<p>                      \u00a0  <br \/>   In the world of robot sports, China isn&#8217;t just playing the game \u2014 it&#8217;s rewriting the rules. \u00a0  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   At this year\u2019s RoboCup in Salvador, Brazil, Chinese humanoid robots ran, kicked and punched their way to victory, in the adult-size humanoid robot division, showing the world what it looks like when state-backed tech meets sci-fi ambition.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   The RoboCup 2025 took place from Thursday to Sunday.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   Tsinghua University defeated China Agricultural University 5-2 in the final match. From the outset, the playing field was tilted in China\u2019s favor \u2014 of the four teams in the division, three were from China. Even the sole U.S. team used a Chinese-made robot, underlining China\u2019s overwhelming presence in the competition.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   RoboCup was launched in 1997 with the ambitious vision for the \u201cdevelopment of robotic soccer players, which can beat a human World Cup champion team\u201d by 2050.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   While China\u2019s dreams of global football dominance remain unfulfilled in real-world sports, it has steadily positioned itself as the global standard in robot soccer.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   China\u2019s growing dominance in robot sports is backed by heavy investment and government-led initiatives. In April, a humanoid robot named Tiangong \u2014 standing at 180 centimeters (5.9 feet) tall and weighing 55 kilograms (121 pounds) \u2014 completed a half-marathon in Beijing in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds. Of the 21 Chinese robots that entered the race, six finished.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   In May, Hangzhou hosted the world\u2019s first humanoid robot combat competition. Unitree, one of China\u2019s leading robotics firms, supplied its G1 humanoid as the official competition robot. Despite some glitches \u2014 including an accidental attack on a referee \u2014 the tournament provided valuable data for future development, according to the company.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>                                                           <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Korea\u2019s Pusan National University team, right, took first place in the robot shown on the left for RoboCup\u2019s @Home League. [YI SEUNG-JOON]\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cc49860d-b40e-404b-938c-c058ed0de6ed.jpg\"\/>                                              <\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Korea\u2019s Pusan National University team, right, took first place in the robot shown on the left for RoboCup\u2019s @Home League. [YI SEUNG-JOON]<\/p>\n<p>                      \u00a0  <br \/>   China is now preparing for an even larger event: the World Humanoid Robot Games slated for Aug. 14 to 17 in Beijing.\u00a0Promoted as a \u201cRobot Olympics,\u201d the event will include 100-meter and 400-meter sprints, hurdles, football and martial arts.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   \u201cThe United States remains the global leader in industrial robotics, but China is catching up fast,\u201d said Han Jea-kweon, a professor of robotics at Hanyang University who attended RoboCup. \u201cIn the United States, the private sector drives the industry, especially around expanding value in factory settings. In China, where the government leads, the focus is on public-facing arenas like robot sports.\u201d  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   Han added that while China&#8217;s aggressive approach also reflects state-driven performance goals, competitive robot sports reveal a country\u2019s real-time technological capabilities. \u00a0  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   \u201cRobot sports are the most unfiltered stage for showcasing today\u2019s practical robotics,\u201d he said. \u201cBalanced development between sports and industry is key.\u201d  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   Meanwhile, Korea\u2019s Pusan National University took first place in RoboCup\u2019s @Home League, which tests robots\u2019 ability to navigate household environments like kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms \u2014 assisting guests, carrying luggage and clearing dishes. This marks the university\u2019s third win in the category, following victories in 2021 and 2023.  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   \u201cCompetitions like RoboCup have a major influence on the robotics industry,\u201d said Yi Seung-joon, professor of electrical and electronic engineering at Pusan National University. \u201cIn the case of the @Home League, many companies are accelerating development to apply these technologies in real-world products.\u201d  <br \/>   \u00a0  <br \/>   RoboCup 2026 will be held in Incheon from June 30 to July 6 next year.  <\/p>\n<p>Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.<br \/>BY LEE HAY-JUNE [<a href=\"https:\/\/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection\" class=\"__cf_email__\" data-cfemail=\"80f3e8e9eeaeede9eee8e5e5c0eaefefeee7e1eee7aee3efaeebf2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A K1 robot from Booster Robotics operates before leaving for the Brazil Robocup at a precompetition exploration camp&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-15041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}