Skild AI trains humanoid to play soccer via 140 simulated years of self-play
deepakpathak · x · 2026-09-24
Robotics startup Skild AI, inspired by the World Cup, used self-play to train a humanoid robot — the "Messinator" — to play soccer:
- 140+ simulated years of play, with the robot facing increasingly capable versions of itself starting from S1
- The only objective was scoring goals: no new demonstrations, no hand-crafted rewards for dribbling, shielding, tackling, shooting or fall recovery
- Those behaviors emerged because they helped it win, and transferred to a real robot
The team frames self-play as a scalable way for robots to create their own curriculum and improve beyond human-provided data.
Related event: Skild AI's Robot Learns Soccer via 140 Years of Simulated Self-Play(13 posts)→
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