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(Bloomberg) — They looked like tipsy 7-year-olds stumbling about the soccer pitch. But the game that unfolded at an industrial zone in Beijing was a breakthrough for humanoid robots and the artificial intelligence that powered them through a 5-3 match on Saturday. 

Clad in black and purple jerseys with individual player numbers, diminutive humanoids faced off for two 10-minute halves, their movements controlled not by gesticulating coaches on the sidelines but by built-in algorithms.

The spectacle was less about lightning-speed action — two players fell on top of each other — and more about demonstrating balance, agility and AI-powered decision-making. The bots pumped their fists in the air after each goal — not difficult since the goalies were pretty bad.

The games were not just a novelty but a signal of how far machine autonomy has progressed — and a showcase for Chinese institutions in particular. The matches featured multiple teams from the leading Tsinghua University as well as institutions like the Beijing Information Science and Technology University. One Tsinghua team called Vulcan won the championship following intense play, the China News Network reported.

China is pouring money and talent into the field in a bid to steal a march on the rest of the world. The nation’s $47 billion robotics market already accounts for 40% of the global total, and is slated to grow at a 23% annual rate to be worth $108 billion by 2028, according to a report by Morgan Stanley earlier this month. 

“China is not only the largest market but also is arguably the world’s innovation hub, propelling cost efficiencies and next-gen robotics development,” the Morgan Stanley analysts said. 

China, never one to shy away from a spectacle-meets-innovation demonstration, has lined up a series of humanoid-robot events that are both technological milestones and provocative cultural events. There was a humanoid half-marathon in Beijing in April, and a bot kickboxing tournament in Hangzhou in May. And while these exhibited some striking advances in AI and robotics, they weren’t quite so impressive as spectator sports. 

Robotic limbs flailed in the air and some robots keeled over at the kickboxing tournament, while only six of the 21 humanoid marathon runners completed the race. Some swerved and fell, and one unfortunate bot’s head rolled off near the start.

Despite their wobbliness, the robot soccer players in Beijing demonstrated visual recognition and positioning abilities, aided by cameras and sensors. They could, for instance, detect the ball from as far away as 60 feet (18.3 meters) with 90% accuracy. The robots were also able to identify the goal, the pitch, field lines and opponents, and make playing decisions based on these inputs — technological improvements that indicate how far the machines have come.

“Such demonstrations with human-form robots are currently focused on inspiring people’s imaginations,” said Samir Menon, founder and chief executive officer of Palo Alto-headquartered robotics startup Dexterity, Inc. “There’ll be thousands of different types of robots, and hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of types of applications.” 

The soccer robots used AI techniques like deep reinforcement learning — a sophisticated system based on trial and error in many simulated situations — to make real-time decisions like passing, dribbling and shooting, or predicting when and where a teammate will move. Such events emphasize Beijing’s goal to deploy increasing numbers in real-world applications, and prove testing grounds to evaluate the machines for stability, efficiency and safety aspects in human proximity.

Saturday’s humanoid football league was a preview for the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games that China is set to host on Aug. 15–17 in Beijing. The event will include 11 humanoid sports events, including gymnastics, track and field and soccer. 

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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