500 robots raced at Beijing's humanoid games last year. How many entered this year?

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2,056 robots from 666 teams and 16 countries competed, four times the number of the first games a year earlier. The robots are fast but cannot stop: a padded wall at the end of the track took repeated hits, some lost limbs, one briefly caught fire, and a four-man stretcher team carried the casualties off between races.

A robot built by Beijing's X-Humanoid ran the 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, quicker than Usain Bolt's 9.58-second world record from 2009. Then it stopped the way they all do, by slamming into the cushion at the end of the track.

2,056 robots competed at Beijing's humanoid robot games. One caught fire mid-race and was put out with an extinguisher.

Source: Business Insider / CGTN · checked Aug 2026