World humanoid robot games show runners breaking records, bursting into flames
World humanoid robot games show runners breaking records, bursting into flames
世界人形机器人大赛：选手打破纪录，却也当场“火花四溅”
Viral videos of the World Humanoid Robot Games show sprinting robots beating the human 100-meter record held by Usain Bolt—but also feature running robots crashing into barriers and falling down because they cannot readily stop running. A few fallen robots even break at the waist in a shower of sparks or catch on fire. 世界人形机器人大赛的病毒式视频显示，短跑机器人不仅打破了尤塞恩·博尔特（Usain Bolt）保持的百米人类纪录，还出现了机器人因无法及时停下而撞向障碍物并摔倒的画面。一些摔倒的机器人甚至在火花四溅中腰部断裂，或是直接起火。
That demonstration of both robotic prowess and limitations came from the second edition of the World Humanoid Robot Games hosted in Beijing from August 22–26. Like the inaugural event held in 2025, this year’s event challenged humanoid robots to run fast, perform kung fu or dance moves, fight one another in kickboxing, and play soccer or table tennis. 这种既展示了机器人实力又暴露了其局限性的场景，出现在8月22日至26日于北京举办的第二届世界人形机器人大赛上。与2025年的首届赛事一样，今年的比赛要求人形机器人进行快速奔跑、表演功夫或舞蹈、进行自由搏击，以及踢足球或打乒乓球。
This year’s games also tested robots in more humdrum practical scenarios like washing and hanging laundry, where they appeared to lag behind typical human working speeds. That suggests the event organizers, including Chinese state media and the Beijing city government, are keen to showcase the commercial potential of humanoid robots at a time when China’s robotics industry is rapidly developing and testing such robots. 今年的比赛还测试了机器人处理更枯燥的实际场景的能力，例如洗衣服和晾衣服，在这些项目中，它们的工作速度似乎仍落后于普通人类。这表明，包括中国官方媒体和北京市政府在内的赛事组织者，正急于在这一中国机器人产业快速发展和测试的时期，展示人形机器人的商业潜力。
Endless runner
“停不下来”的奔跑者
The fact that humanoid robots went from lagging behind human record-holders last year to surpassing human world records in the 100-meter sprint and standing high jump events this year suggests significant progress in robotic whole-body control for accomplishing specific tasks, Dipam Patel, a PhD candidate in computer science at Purdue University and a research assistant at the US Army DevCom Army Research Lab, told Ars. 普渡大学计算机科学博士候选人、美国陆军研究实验室（DevCom）研究助理迪帕姆·帕特尔（Dipam Patel）告诉《Ars Technica》，人形机器人从去年的落后于人类纪录保持者，到今年在百米短跑和立定跳高项目中超越人类世界纪录，这表明机器人在完成特定任务的全身控制方面取得了重大进展。
“All of that does display whole body control, because you need to move all the joints, hands, legs, arm, body, everything to accomplish that task,” said Patel, who is also a graduate student member of IEEE. “So there has definitely been a huge push in engineering from where they were last time to this time.” “这一切确实展示了全身控制能力，因为你需要移动所有的关节、手、腿、手臂、身体，以及一切部位来完成任务，”同时也是IEEE研究生会员的帕特尔说，“所以从上次比赛到现在，工程技术方面确实有了巨大的推动。”
However, the robots on display in the World Humanoid Robot Games are still very far from general-purpose autonomous robots capable of handling practically any task. Instead, these robots were engineered to accomplish just one task, as shown by the fact that the running robots sprinted in a straight line and could not even slow down by continuing around the track after the finish line. 然而，在世界人形机器人大赛中展示的机器人，距离能够处理几乎任何任务的通用自主机器人还有很长的路要走。相反，这些机器人被设计为仅完成单一任务，正如奔跑的机器人在冲过终点线后无法减速，甚至无法绕着跑道继续前行一样。
“If you cross the finish line, that’s the goal—it doesn’t matter if you stop and it doesn’t matter if you fall into different pieces,” Patel told Ars. “Some companies had different types of robots for different games or different tasks, because they were engineered for that task to be the best in that.” “如果你冲过了终点线，目标就达成了——至于你能不能停下来，或者会不会摔得四分五裂，并不重要，”帕特尔告诉《Ars》。 “一些公司针对不同的比赛或任务使用了不同类型的机器人，因为它们就是为了在特定任务中做到最好而设计的。”
Humanoid robot stumbles.
人形机器人的踉跄
The robotic races and other flashy events provide for an entertaining spectacle that can lead to easy news headlines and viral video clips. They also give robotics companies an opportunity to attract more publicity and investor money by potentially standing out from the competition, Patel said. 帕特尔表示，机器人竞赛和其他华丽的赛事提供了一种娱乐性的奇观，容易博得新闻头条和病毒式传播的视频片段。这也为机器人公司提供了一个机会，通过在竞争中脱颖而出，吸引更多的关注和投资。
One type of humanoid robot developed by the Beijing-based company X-Humanoid gained viral online fame for winning the small-group 400-meter race with an unusual “shy person hiding behind their hands” posture. The robot’s developers told the Global Times that the robot learned through reinforcement learning trials in simulation to shift from a human-style runner’s arm swing to holding its arms up near its face and swinging them back and forth through hip rotations. 北京公司“星动纪元”（X-Humanoid）开发的一款人形机器人因以一种类似“害羞的人躲在手后面”的独特姿势赢得了小组400米比赛，而在网上走红。该机器人的开发者告诉《环球时报》，机器人通过模拟环境中的强化学习试验，学会了从人类风格的摆臂动作，转变为将双臂举在脸部附近，并通过髋部旋转来前后摆动。
Measures of robotic progress at the games could prove even more meaningful if, for example, they challenged robots to run the same race 10 times, Patel suggested. That would require the robots to demonstrate they have the software and hardware to perform reliably over multiple trials—and maybe even learn to slow down safely without endangering themselves or any bystanders. 帕特尔建议，如果比赛能增加一些挑战，例如要求机器人连续跑同一场比赛10次，那么衡量机器人进步的指标可能会更有意义。这将要求机器人证明它们拥有在多次试验中可靠运行的软件和硬件，甚至可能学会如何安全减速，而不会危及自身或旁观者。
Boring is more useful
“无聊”的测试更有用
The less flashy events that debuted during the World Humanoid Robot Games this year may ultimately prove more useful benchmarks for robotic progress. Such scenario competitions included household chores, like washing laundry, folding clothes, and cleaning up living rooms, according to the Chinese state media publication the Global Times. 今年世界人形机器人大赛中首次亮相的那些不那么华丽的赛事，最终可能被证明是衡量机器人进步更有用的基准。据中国官方媒体《环球时报》报道，这些场景竞赛包括洗衣服、叠衣服和打扫客厅等家务活。
Robots were also challenged by an unscheduled interruption when they had to bring a delivery package inside. That required them to switch tasks from the household chores to deal with receiving the delivery. The Beijing Continental Grand Hotel provided robots with a different set of timed challenges, including moving wheeled luggage to assigned hotel rooms, cleaning up beds and restocking supplies. 机器人还面临着突发中断的挑战，例如必须将快递包裹拿进室内。这要求它们从家务任务切换到处理快递接收。北京大陆饭店为机器人提供了一系列不同的计时挑战，包括将带轮行李搬运到指定的酒店房间、整理床铺和补充物资。
The Global Times also reported that a separate library shelving event challenged robots to collect book returns and put them in the correct place as a test of visual recognition and reasoning. One of the livelier practical scenarios involved an outdoor firefighting and rescue event. Robots had 30 minutes to identify hazardous substances, locate and shut off three open valves of different types, spot a fire, and then find a fire extinguisher to put it out. Only three out of 12 competing robot teams completed the entire challenge, according to the Global Times. 《环球时报》还报道称，另一项图书馆上架比赛要求机器人收集归还的书籍并将其放回正确位置，以此测试视觉识别和推理能力。其中一个更生动的实际场景是户外消防救援比赛。机器人有30分钟的时间来识别危险物质、定位并关闭三种不同类型的开启阀门、发现火源，然后找到灭火器将其扑灭。据《环球时报》报道，12支参赛机器人队伍中只有3支完成了全部挑战。
Robots even participated in six events challenging hand dexterity, including picking up beans and driving screws. They also competed to precisely hammer nails into a corkboard without driving them in at an angle. But Patel observed that many of the robotic competitors were still being teleoperated by human operators who directly controlled the robots’ actions. The World Humanoid Robot Games allowed for human teleoperation of robots in certain events, but penalized the final score if robots were being remotely controlled rather than performing autonomously. 机器人甚至参加了六项挑战手部灵巧性的比赛，包括捡豆子和拧螺丝。它们还比赛将钉子精确地钉入软木板，且不能钉歪。但帕特尔观察到，许多参赛机器人仍然是由人类操作员进行远程操控，直接控制机器人的动作。世界人形机器人大赛允许在某些项目中进行人工远程操控，但如果机器人是远程控制而非自主执行，则会扣除最终得分。
Limits of robot autonomy
机器人自主性的局限
The fact that many events still permitted humans to directly control robotic motions shows that autonomous robot systems still have a long way to go, Patel said. Whereas humans can quickly learn many tasks on the fly, robots require much… 帕特尔表示，许多赛事仍然允许人类直接控制机器人动作，这一事实表明自主机器人系统还有很长的路要走。人类可以快速即兴学习许多任务，而机器人则需要……