China’s robots race ahead
China’s robots race ahead
中国机器人竞速前行
Bots were breaking records and breaking down at Beijing’s World Humanoid Robot Games. 在北京举行的世界人形机器人锦标赛上，机器人既在不断打破纪录，也在不断发生故障。
How it started
起步阶段
I’ve admitted my fondness for robot fail videos on Stepback before, and let me tell you the World Humanoid Robot Games did not disappoint. 我之前在《Stepback》专栏中承认过自己对机器人“翻车”视频的喜爱，我得说，这次世界人形机器人锦标赛确实没让我失望。
The five-day event, which wrapped this week in Beijing, brought high drama, and brought it well. One robot, made by smartphone maker Honor, lost a leg mid-sprint, while others tripped in a flurry of sparks. Another finisher ran straight into a crash mat, bounced off it, and promptly burst into flames. In the weightlifting, one robot lost its balance beneath a modest barbell and toppled inexorably into the judges’ table, arms cartoonishly aloft. Robotic cheerleaders tumbled and stumbled through routines, while a separate bot fell off a platform in circumstances that, had it been human, might have looked suspiciously like it was gawking at the performers. 这场为期五天的赛事本周在北京落下帷幕，带来了极具戏剧性的一幕幕。由智能手机制造商荣耀（Honor）制造的一台机器人在冲刺中途掉了一条腿，其他机器人则在火花四溅中摔倒。另一台完成比赛的机器人径直撞向缓冲垫，反弹后随即起火。在举重比赛中，一台机器人因无法平衡杠铃而不可避免地倒向裁判席，双臂滑稽地高举着。机器人啦啦队员在表演中跌跌撞撞，而另一台机器人则从平台上摔了下来，如果换作人类，那样子看起来就像是在盯着表演者看。
This was only the second World Humanoid Robot Games, though it was already far bigger than the inaugural event last year. Unlike this year, last year’s records were paltry. The winning 100-meter sprint was a glacial 21.50 seconds and the highest standing high jump was just 0.95 meters. In keeping with China’s habit of turning robots into public spectacle — from intricate dances at a Spring Festival Gala to demos at major tech events — both this and last year’s games were staged in Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval, a former Olympic venue. 这仅仅是第二届世界人形机器人锦标赛，但规模已远超去年首届。与今年不同，去年的纪录乏善可陈：百米冲刺冠军的成绩是缓慢的21.50秒，立定跳高最高纪录仅为0.95米。秉承中国将机器人转化为公共景观的习惯——从春晚的复杂舞蹈到大型科技活动的演示——今年和去年的比赛都在曾举办过奥运会的北京国家速滑馆举行。
And a spectacle it was. At most sporting events, contestants losing limbs, careening into walls, catching fire, and regularly being carried away on stretchers — oh, and did I mention catching fire?! — would probably be grounds to stop proceedings. At the Humanoid Robot Games, it was par for the course. 这确实是一场奇观。在大多数体育赛事中，选手断肢、撞墙、起火，甚至需要频繁被担架抬走——哦，我提到起火了吗？！——这些情况可能早就导致比赛中止了。但在人形机器人锦标赛上，这却是家常便饭。
Fire aside, the games were unusual in other ways too. Alongside familiar events like sprinting, football, boxing, and weightlifting were more unusual competitions in bed-making, parcel delivery, shelf stacking, clothes folding, and hammering nails. Aptly, there was a firefighting contest too. 除了起火，比赛在其他方面也不同寻常。除了短跑、足球、拳击和举重等熟悉的赛事外，还有铺床、快递配送、货架堆叠、叠衣服和钉钉子等更奇特的比赛。顺理成章地，现场还举行了一场消防比赛。
These less standard offerings spoke to the real purpose of the games: getting robots out of the lab and into the messy real-world environments their makers hope they will ultimately work in. And China is making no secret of wanting to lead the way. 这些非标准化的项目揭示了比赛的真正目的：让机器人走出实验室，进入其制造者希望它们最终能够工作的复杂现实环境中。而中国毫不掩饰其想要引领这一领域的野心。
How it’s going
进展阶段
For all the spectacle and drama, the games show there has been massive progress in robotics in recent years. Records fell, with one humanoid running the 100-meter sprint in 9.39 seconds, beating Usain Bolt’s 2009 world record. Another bot reached 2.88 meters in a standing high jump, nearly half a meter above the human high-jump record that has stood since 1993. Those performances are almost unrecognizable compared to robotics competitions a decade ago, when even the most advanced machines struggled to stay upright. 尽管充满了奇观和戏剧性，但比赛表明近年来机器人技术取得了巨大进步。纪录不断被打破，一台人形机器人以9.39秒的成绩完成了百米冲刺，超过了尤塞恩·博尔特（Usain Bolt）2009年的世界纪录。另一台机器人立定跳高达到2.88米，比1993年以来保持的人类跳高纪录高出近半米。与十年前机器人竞赛中即使是最先进的机器也难以保持站立的情况相比，这些表现简直令人难以置信。
But the games also show how far there is to go before humanoids are actually useful in the real world. The flashy, video-friendly sporting events were impressive, but the more mundane tasks were less thrilling — I don’t see picking up soybeans with tweezers, block-building, or powder-weighing becoming Olympic mainstays anytime soon. 但比赛也显示，人形机器人在现实世界中真正发挥作用还有很长的路要走。那些华丽、适合拍摄视频的体育赛事令人印象深刻，但更平凡的任务则没那么令人兴奋——我看不出用镊子夹大豆、积木搭建或粉末称重会在短期内成为奥运会的主流项目。
While many events required robots to operate autonomously — including gymnastics, football, tug of war, table tennis, and some track events — others allowed for human assistance via teleoperation, albeit with a scoring penalty. The dexterity being displayed certainly points to genuine and impressive hardware improvements, but seems like there is still a long way to go before these machines can operate reliably on their own in places like factories or homes. 虽然许多赛事要求机器人自主操作——包括体操、足球、拔河、乒乓球和一些田径项目——但其他项目允许通过远程操作进行人工辅助，尽管会有扣分。所展示的灵活性无疑指向了真实且令人印象深刻的硬件改进，但在这些机器能够像在工厂或家庭中那样可靠地自主运行之前，似乎还有很长的路要走。
What happens next
未来展望
Beijing has not yet confirmed a third Humanoid Robot Games, but given the government’s enthusiasm for the industry, it would be surprising to not get another installment. The city has already confirmed another humanoid half-marathon for April, and the country plans to open its first robot-run hotel next year. 北京尚未确认是否会举办第三届人形机器人锦标赛，但考虑到政府对该行业的热情，如果没有下一届比赛反而会令人惊讶。该市已确认将于四月举办另一场人形机器人半程马拉松，全国计划明年开设首家由机器人运营的酒店。
China was the undisputed champion of the games, and the country looks well placed to stay in top position moving forward — both at future competitions and in the humanoid robot industry as a whole. The medal table was almost entirely a Chinese affair, dominated in particular by AgiBot and Tien Kung, each scooping up more medals than nearly every other competitor combined, excluding the other. 中国是这场比赛无可争议的冠军，而且该国在未来——无论是在未来的比赛中，还是在整个人形机器人行业中——都处于保持领先地位的有利位置。奖牌榜几乎完全是中国选手的天下，特别是“银河通用”（AgiBot）和“天工”（Tien Kung）表现抢眼，它们各自获得的奖牌数几乎超过了除对方之外所有其他竞争对手的总和。
In part, that asymmetry reflected the lack of international competition. Although the games were framed as a global affair, 641 of 666 teams were Chinese, domestically representing 157 companies and 200 universities, according to state-run China Daily. While there doesn’t seem to be a public breakdown of entrants, the biggest US humanoid players like Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Figure were conspicuous by their absence. 在某种程度上，这种不对称反映了国际竞争的匮乏。据官方媒体《中国日报》报道，尽管比赛被定位为全球性赛事，但666支参赛队伍中有641支来自中国，代表了国内157家公司和200所大学。虽然目前似乎没有公开的参赛者明细，但特斯拉（Tesla）、波士顿动力（Boston Dynamics）和Figure等美国人形机器人领域的巨头缺席，显得格外引人注目。
Nevertheless, the sheer diversity of Chinese institutions represented in Beijing was a show of force, and a sign of how quickly the country’s robotics sector is maturing. 尽管如此，在北京参展的中国机构的多样性本身就是一种实力的展示，也标志着中国机器人产业正在迅速走向成熟。