In a country still licking its wounds from another men’s World Cup failure, the most electric soccer match in China last weekend wasn’t played by humans. It was played by humanoid robots.
In Beijing, four teams of fully autonomous robots faced off in 3-on-3 soccer matches that, for once, actually got fans cheering. Powered entirely by artificial intelligence—with zero human interference—the bots dribbled, passed, and even collapsed in believable fashion during China’s first-ever AI-powered robot football showcase.
Each team came from a university, but all the hardware was provided by Booster Robotics. What made the match more than just a tech demo was that every university team built their own AI system to handle vision, tactics, movement, and in-game decision-making. “They (the robots) operated fully autonomously,” Booster Robotics founder Cheng Hao told AP News. “No one controlled them during the match.”
China’s Soccer Robots Generated More Excitement Than Their Human Counterparts
One thing that stood out was how the robots were designed to get back up after falling. In reality, that didn’t always go to plan. Some had to be stretchered off by staff—another oddly realistic touch.
The final game saw Tsinghua University’s THU Robotics beat China Agricultural University’s Mountain Sea team 5–3. Despite the loss, fans like Mr. Wu were impressed. “They (THU) did really well,” he said. “But the Mountain Sea team was also impressive. They brought a lot of surprises.”
Unlike China’s men’s national team—knocked out of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers—these robots gave fans something to root for. More importantly, they gave researchers a high-pressure testbed for improving algorithms in real-world conditions. “Sports competitions offer the ideal testing ground,” Cheng said, adding that challenges like movement, coordination, and strategic planning help refine both software and hardware.
China plans to ramp up these events leading up to the World Humanoid Robot Games, set to debut in Beijing. Eventually, Cheng believes we’ll see robots and humans on the same field; not to compete, but to build trust. “A robot and a human could play a match where winning doesn’t matter,” he said. “That would help audiences understand that robots are safe.”
As China pours money into AI development, these humanoid players look like a real future for the national team.
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