A panda-shaped robot moved through tai chi routines as machines designed after the terra-cotta warriors marched in step. Mechanical versions of Chinese pop culture icons such as the Monkey King and the child warrior Nezha took the stage, while a six-armed robot drummer played alongside a live human band.

This was the spectacle that opened the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, where more than 500 machines from 16 countries are competing in everything from gymnastics and boxing to football, hotel cleaning, and pharmaceutical sorting.

Running from Aug. 14 to 17, the tournament will award 26 gold medals across three categories: competitive events, performance events, and scenario-based challenges.

A total of 280 teams are taking part, including 192 university groups and 88 corporate teams. The Games will also include exhibition contests such as robot boxing, basketball, and human-versus-robot table tennis.

Thursday’s opening ceremony mixed pageantry with a nod to the sport section’s early standouts.

“What’s the right response when a robot falls? Applause,” said a CCTV reporter during the opening ceremony’s live broadcast on Thursday evening. “Every fall today is for a sprint tomorrow.”

After the Games’ flag entered the arena, the top three finishers of April’s Beijing Humanoid Robot Half Marathon — built by Tiangong, Noetix Robotics, and Droid Robotics — led the procession into the stadium.

They were followed by teams from other major Chinese robotics firms, including Unitree, Booster Robotics, and Fourier, along with competitors from the U.S., Germany, Australia, Brazil, and Japan.

A Tiangong-built robot then delivered the athletes’ oath, pledging to respect opponents, referees, and rules, and to “showcase the power of technology” in pursuit of “a dream of coexistence — all in tribute to the future.”

In the three event categories, competitive contests adapt human sports such as running, high jump, long jump, floor gymnastics, and 3-on-3 or 5-on-5 football. Performance events feature dance and martial arts, testing real-time control and coordination. And scenario-based challenges simulate real-world tasks, from factory material handling to hospital medication sorting and hotel housekeeping.

In the hotel cleaning event, for example, robots must open doors, enter rooms, and quickly identify and dispose of items like water bottles, lunch boxes, and soda cans.

State broadcaster CCTV said many teams made targeted upgrades to prepare for the competition.

One team from eastern Anhui province had to upgrade its robot’s vision system after they discovered the glare from aluminum-plastic blister packs used in pharmaceutical packaging significantly affected its ability to compete in the medicine unpacking and dispensing skill challenge. Another, based in Beijing and better known for mining robots, retooled its models to take on the hotel cleaning challenge.

Tickets for the Games, co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, state broadcaster China Media Group, the World Robot Cooperation Organization, and the International Committee of RoboCup Asia-Pacific, range from 128 to 580 yuan ($20 to $80).

(Header image: A humanoid robot runs during a trial ahead of the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Aug. 14, 2025. Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images/VCG)