Inside the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games: 2,056 robots, 666 teams, most events still human-assisted
aigclink · x · 2026-08-23
A firsthand visit to the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games: 666 teams and 2,056 robots competed this year, with new events like Tai Chi and table tennis testing coordination. Compared with last year's inaugural edition, overall capability clearly improved and many new companies showed up.
Limitations remain obvious: apart from running, events like boxing, dexterous hands and table tennis still require human intervention/teleoperation. Autonomy and generalization are limited — mostly scripted behaviors for specific scenarios, with real-world applications still mostly performative.
The author argues physical models are still in an "AI 1.0" phase (analogous to NLP/CV in 2013-2022), and embodied AI won't truly boom until a "ChatGPT moment for physical AI" arrives — estimated 2-3 years away. Until then, entertainment value may be humanoids' biggest commercial use.
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