{"id":6051,"date":"2026-08-27T01:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=6051"},"modified":"2026-08-27T01:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:52:07","slug":"i-could-watch-the-robot-games-forever-ai-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=6051","title":{"rendered":"The Humanoids at China\u2019s Robot Games Were Faster Than Usain Bolt\u2014but I\u2019m More Impressed by Their Tweezer Mastery"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Some of the new events this year would be too simple for human athletes, but they were designed to tax the robots\u2019 brains as much as their brawn. These included plugging cables into sockets and slowly depositing a piece of garbage in a trash can inside a mock bedroom.<\/p>\n

Tellex explains that training robots to manipulate objects within a more complex environment is far more difficult than having them sprint or leap through the air. Advanced manipulation is something of a holy grail in robotics, and something that some startups in the US<\/a> are trying to solve<\/a> using more advanced AI.<\/p>\n

Fiddly finger skills are difficult for robots partly because they involve plenty of hard-to-predict stuff, like friction and slippage. Humans have a finely honed sense of touch, an innate understanding of physics, and the ability to adapt on a microscopic scale at lightning speed. Robots? Not so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s an example of Moravec’s paradox<\/a>,\u201d Tellex says. \u201cWhere things like backflips that seem more impressive than plugging in a cable are actually easier than plugging in a cable.\u201d<\/p>\n

One key caveat with the event: Some images and videos seem to show humans remotely operating some of the robots, suggesting the bots cannot handle them autonomously. Even so, the fact that robot hands are now deft enough to grasp tiny objects using tools, even under human control, is pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

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\"BEIJING<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n

A humanoid robot takes part in the Hotel scenario cleaning service event on day two of the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games at the National Speed Skating Oval.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Video: Lintao Zhang\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The full schedule<\/a> for the games listed other events designed to test manual dexterity, including \u201cblock building\u201d and \u201ctweezer bean picking<\/a>.\u201d These tasks seem to reflect China\u2019s eagerness to automate work in factories and warehouses, like wiring through an automobile\u2019s chassis or assembling electronics.<\/p>\n

A company called Galbot took part in several events, including a Supermarket Scenario Competition, which involves stocking shelves in a retail store. The company sees them as a way to push commercial capabilities forward. \u201cGalbot will continue advancing humanoid robot capabilities by taking on increasingly challenging scenarios,\u201d Yvonne Yuan, a representative for the company, told me in an email. \u201cMoving from structured environments toward more open, unpredictable real-world applications where robots need to understand, adapt, and collaborate with humans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the new events this year would be too simple for human athletes, but they were designed to tax the robots\u2019 brains as much as their brawn. These included plugging cables into sockets and slowly depositing a piece of garbage in a trash can inside a mock bedroom. Tellex explains that training robots to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[163,83,1261,356,165],"class_list":["post-6051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-ai-lab","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-humanoid-robots","tag-olympics","tag-robots"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Humanoids at China\u2019s Robot Games Were Faster Than Usain Bolt\u2014but I\u2019m More Impressed by Their Tweezer Mastery - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Beijing\u2019s endlessly delightful Robot Games featured tons of impressive stunts. 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