Author: Jack Lee

At the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games (WHRG 2026), Tiangong Omni crossed the finish line of the 400-meter small-group final in 45.66 seconds, leaning forward with both hands held near its face and barely swinging its arms. The unusual gait quickly became a talking point online. Chinese viewers dubbed it the “coy” run, or the “face-palm” sprint. But the running style points to a change in how humanoid robots are being trained. Han Gang, a motion-control algorithm expert at the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, told reporters after the race that the team had initially designed a more conventional running…

BEIJING — The music was still loud at Unitree Robotics’ booth, where the G1 and H2 humanoids went through their combat and group dance routines. A small crowd gathered, snapped a few photos, and moved on. A short walk away, robots sorting packages on conveyor belts, tightening screws at workstations, and pulling espresso shots had drawn a much bigger audience. Some visitors scribbled parameters into notebooks. Others chased sales reps for pricing. A few squatted down to inspect joint structures. Reuters put it bluntly in a dispatch from the event: “Robots that can do kung fu are already obsolete.” That…

BEIJING — On the evening of August 22, a 100-meter preliminary heat at the National Speed Skating Oval, the “Ice Ribbon,” pushed the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games into new territory. Team Tianzhuo’s robot opened with a 9.39-second run, already faster than Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second men’s 100m world record. The mark did not last long. Tiangong-Jingfeng Technology Joint Team clocked 9.34 seconds. Honor’s Lightning had already posted a 9.32-second time in pre-event testing. By the end of the evening, multiple robots had posted times faster than the human world-record mark. The results showed how quickly the performance bar is rising…

The second World Humanoid Robot Games open today, August 22, at the National Speed Skating Oval, known as the “Ice Ribbon,” in Beijing. Over the next five days, 666 teams from 16 countries across six continents will field 2,056 robots across 51 events and 1,301 competition sessions. Compared with the inaugural Games, the number of events has nearly doubled, from 26 to 51. Scenario-based events have expanded from six to 21, covering real-world settings including industrial production, hotels, homes, emergency response, catering and office work. Athletic events have also added long jump, weightlifting, tug-of-war and table tennis. The focus of…

On the afternoon of August 19 in Beijing, a Unitree G1 humanoid robot stood on one side of a table tennis table at the company’s booth at the 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC 2026). As the ball came over the net, the robot stepped sideways and returned it with a backhand. A Unitree staff member said the G1 tracks the incoming ball’s position and movement in real time, then chooses a forehand, backhand or a shot after stepping into position. It adjusts its posture and striking motion as the ball’s position and trajectory change. Elsewhere at the booth, multiple G1…

Unitree Robotics has unveiled a new humanoid robot called “Superman”, which the company says can jump about 2 meters from a standing position and reach a peak running speed of 12.66 meters per second. The company released a 30-second video of Superman on August 17. In the video, Superman is shown with a leg length of 0.85 meters, reaching 12.66 m/s while running and performing a standing vertical jump of about 2 meters. At 12.66 m/s, Superman’s published peak speed is above the widely cited 12.42 m/s peak recorded for Usain Bolt during his 9.58-second 100-meter world-record run in Berlin…

The 2026 World Robot Conference runs August 19–23 at the Etrong International Exhibition & Convention Center in Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, better known as E-Town. This year’s theme is “Coexistence of Human and Machine, Integration of Industry and Demand.” The exhibition floor covers about 55,000 square meters, with more than 300 companies and over 2,000 exhibits. Organizers say more than 150 products will make their public debut, and more than 60 side events are scheduled. But for most attendees, the bigger change isn’t volume. It’s that the show has shifted further toward complete robot systems, embodied AI, core components, and…

When Washington slammed the door on fully assembled Chinese robots, engineers in Silicon Valley found a scrappier workaround: fly to Shenzhen, fill a suitcase with robot parts, and fly home on a commercial flight. On July 28, 2026, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission updated its “Covered List,” adding foreign-made advanced robotic equipment to the ban. New models of Chinese robots are now all but locked out of the U.S. market. But the restrictions target covered robotic devices rather than the broad range of components used to build them. Reducers, servo motors, sensors and other critical parts are largely outside the…

Global humanoid robot shipments reached roughly 19,100 units in the first half of 2026, more than triple the figure from a year earlier, according to Smart Analytics Global (SAG). Chinese manufacturers accounted for more than 97% of global shipments. The figures point to a market moving beyond lab demonstrations and trade-show prototypes toward commercial deployments. In 2026, the focus has shifted toward mass production and real-world use. AgiBot and Unitree Lead Global Shipment Rankings Chinese manufacturers hold a clear lead. Shanghai-based AgiBot shipped about 8,400 units in the first half, accounting for roughly 44% of global shipments. Hangzhou’s Unitree followed…

Workers at a Hyundai plant in South Korea recently staged a partial strike, but the dispute was not about wages or working hours. The union demanded a written guarantee from management that jobs would be safe as humanoid robots move onto the factory floor. It was the first labor standoff in the global auto industry triggered directly by the risk of humanoid replacement. In China, however, those robots are already clocking in. Xiaomi’s in-house humanoid robot has been operating at the company’s auto plant in Beijing’s Yizhuang district for less than six months. It has successfully handled a challenging assembly…