Advancements herald future shared with robots

The four-day 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games — the world's first comprehensive event featuring humanoid robots as the main participants — starts in Beijing on Thursday under the slogan "racing towards a shared intelligent future". More than 500 humanoids from 16 countries will compete in 538 events, which include not only track and field events, gymnastics and soccer, but also individual and group dances and scenario-based activities featuring material handling and sorting, as well as cleaning service skills. The Games, which showcase the highest level of human technological prowess in robotics, aim to help accelerate the integration of humanoid robots into human life.

The event takes place just two days after the conclusion of the 2025 World Robot Conference in the Chinese capital, which already showcased the extraordinary advancements in robotics achieved in China and other countries. The hosting of such high-profile robot-related events underscores the country's position as a global front-runner in robotics.

China has been the world's largest industrial robot application market for 12 consecutive years — with its share of the world's newly installed robots increasing from 51 percent in 2023 to 54 percent in 2024. In the first half of this year, industrial robot production in China reached 370,000 units while service robot output hit 8.82 million units, representing a year-on-year increase of 35.6 percent and 25.5 percent, respectively.