An 11 robots football team

Four university teams of completely autonomous humanoid robots They faced in Beijing In football matches of 3 against 3. The interesting thing is that they did it without any human intervention. Of course, the Androids stumbled, fell and some had to be even taken out on a stretcher, but behind the show there was a whole muscle demonstration and a robotic industry that is increasingly present in China.

The reality behind the show. Although the scene seemed more a child training than a professional party, each robot worked totally independently through AI. Equipped with advanced visual sensors, the androids were the size of a child and managed to identify the ball and navigate the field with some agility, in addition to getting up alone after the falls (although some needed human help).

Image: The Independent

The final was played by Thu Robotics, from the Tsinghua University, in front of the Mountain is from the Agricultural University of China. The first rose with the victory with a result of 5 to 3. in The video The clumsiness of each of the robots are quite appreciated, although the event is one of many demonstrations in which it is intended to highlight the ease that China has in the field of robotics.

The technological context. The country has been betting hard for humanoid robotics as part of its national technological strategy. According to Morgan Stanley, the Chinese robotic market will grow 23% annual until reaching 108,000 million dollars in 2028, compared to the current 47,000 million. By 2050, China is expected to have 302.3 million humanoid robots in operation, far ahead of the 77.7 million projected for the other major market: United States.

Robotics in the field of sport. The sport has become a key test field for these developments. In April, 21 humanoid robots They competed with humans in a half marathon in Beijingalthough only six managed to finish. This football tournament prel a prelude to the World Humanoid Robots Games of 2025, which China will organize in Beijing From August 15 to 17 with 11 robotic sports, including gymnastics, athletics and football.

Between the lines. Cheng Hao, founder of Booster Robotics (company that supplied robots during the event), Explain that sports competitions accelerate the development of both algorithms and integrated hardware-Software systems. Security is a central concern: “In the future, we could organize matches between robots and humans. That means we must ensure that robots are completely safe,” he says. The idea is that spectators generate trust seeing real interactions between androids and people.

Football irony. While the Chinese male team occupies the 94th position of the FIFA ranking and everything indicates that it will not be classified for the next World Cup, its robots at least seem to know how to offer show and score goals. Who knows, the same in a time China can fulfill Guardiola’s wet dream in his tactical football and “without creativity”, who has been criticized several times By experts and players like Patrice Evra: “Now we have robots”

The analysis suggests that Chinese national support for “EMBODIED AI“It exceeds that of any other nation, which could expand its advantage before rivals like the United States pay more attention to this field.

Cover image | The Independent

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