China Hosts World’s First Humanoid Robot Boxing Match—And It’s a Knockout
Metal fists fly as humanoid robots duke it out in a historic bout—proving even androids can throw a decent right hook.
No judges, no belts, just pure algorithmic aggression. Who needs Floyd Mayweather when you’ve got servo-powered uppercuts?
Bonus cynicism: At least these bots won’t demand a $50M purse paid in volatile memecoins.
Advanced robotics
Unitree is a Chinese-based robotics company known as one of the pioneers of the advanced robotics movement. It was first known for its robotic dogs but has since established itself as the creator of top-quality humanoid robots.
In January, popular AI agent ElizaOS announced the Eliza Wakes Up project that will see the agent get a robot body. Its creators told Decrypt at the time that it will be using the Unitree H1 as the base for Eliza.
Eliza’s Unitree robot is explicitly not to be used for sex. This detail was stressed due to the announcement coming a week after a horny developer strapped the AI agent to a sex toy, allowing for erotic conversation with Eliza while using the toy
In February, Unitree started to showcase videos of its G1 model performing martial arts moves—including a 720 Kung Fu spin kick. By April, it had videos of the robot fighting humans and recovering from being knocked down.
Now, in late May, it appears it is the G1 model that is fighting in a robot-only martial arts competition.
After qualifying for the final by beating Pink, the Black robot won via decision against Green to win the entire event. With this, Black and its human controller received an invitation to the final of the CMG World Robot Competition.
Online spectators compared the first event of the series to the 2011 movie Real Steel, which saw large humanoid robots fight it out in the ring controlled by human operators.
Others have started to fantasize about the possibilities of the technology, with some claiming that the robots will soon be able to beat professional human fighters.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
