Chinese robotics company Unitree showcased the fighting capabilities of its G1 robot model in what was advertised as the world’s first-ever humanoid robot fighting competition.
Remember Real Steel, the 2011 sci-fi flick starring Hugh Jackman as a struggling ex-boxer turned robot fighting coach? It was set in the “near future”, but who would have thought that we would really have robot fighting competitions just over a decade later? Just last week, Unitree, a robotics company based in China’s Zhejiang Province, held a unique kickboxing competition to show the capabilities of its G1 robot. Standing only 130 cm (4ft 3in) tall and weighing 35 kilograms (77lbs), the G1 is a small, lightweight robot capable of smooth, fluid movements, and displaying impressive balance and recovery ability. And what better way to showcase these features than having G1 robots go at it as part of the world’s first ever robot fighting competition?!
Photo: Unitree
Put together by state-owned China Media Group and broadcast live by China Central Television (CCTV), the World Robot Competition – Mecha Fighting Series kicked off last Sunday, in Hangzhou. Four G1 robots went head-to-head inside a ring under the watchful eye of a human referee who macde sure they fought by the rules and broke them apart when they clinched for too long.
Wearing head protective gear and standard boxing gloves, the robots showed off their jabs, hooks, uppercuts, and even their leg kicks in three two-minute rounds, scoring points for hits landed to the opponent’s head and torso. One match also ended when one robot couldn’t get up for eight seconds after being knocked down, which counted as a KO.
The robots’ movements were coordinated via remote control and voice commands by human controllers at ringside. After winning their first two matches, two G1 robots confronted each in the final. The winner was a Unitree robot controlled by Chinese tech influencer Lu Xin.
Although it wasn’t on par with the exciting fighting in Real Steel, it was definitely a preview of things to come in the near future. Unitree’s event was only the first such competition, but another robot combat tournament has already been announced for December, featuring full-sized humanoid robots from different Chinese manufacturers.
These days, Chinese robotics companies are going all-out to showcase their supremacy in the field of humanoid robots. The world’s first humanoid robot fighting competition follows a number of other unique events, such as the world’s first humanoid robot marathon.
