From August 21, 2026 to August 25, 2026
World Humanoid Robot Games 2026 — 2nd Edition
| Official Name | 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games — 2nd Edition |
| Website | https://www.humanoidrobotgames.com/ |
| Dates | August 22–26, 2026 |
| Venue | National Speed Skating Oval ("Ice Ribbon"), Beijing, China |
| Organizer | Beijing Municipal Government & China Media Group (CMG) |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Edition | 2nd edition (inaugural: August 2025, Beijing) |
| Scale | 32 events across 2 categories; 500+ humanoid robots expected; 280+ competing teams in 2025 edition |
| Category Tags | Competitions and Challenges | Humanoids | Expo and Summits |
The World Humanoid Robot Games is the world's first and only Olympic-format competitive event exclusively for humanoid robots — a landmark moment in embodied AI history. The inaugural 2025 edition in Beijing drew global media coverage, with robots competing in 26 events including the 100m sprint, football, martial arts, and precision-task scenarios.
The 2026 second edition at the iconic National Speed Skating Oval — the 'Ice Ribbon' built for the 2022 Winter Olympics — significantly expands scope to 32 events and two categories: Competitive Events (26 events across athletics, football, gymnastics, weightlifting, martial arts, street dance, sport dance, tug-of-war, and pitch-pot) and Scenario-Based Contests (6 real-world deployment events in factories, hotels, homes, emergency response, hospitals, and retail environments).
The 2026 edition marks a critical qualitative leap: all 100m sprint events are now fully autonomous (no human teleoperation), and scenario-based events move from simulated venues into real-world settings — pushing humanoid robots from 'demonstration tools' toward 'practical productivity tools'. This framing directly mirrors the commercialization narrative central to RobotToday's humanoid coverage.
Co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal Government and China Media Group, the Games serve as China's flagship soft-power platform for demonstrating global leadership in embodied intelligence and Physical AI — strategically timed alongside WRC 2026 (August 8–12) to create a 'humanoid fortnight' in Beijing.
Key participating companies in 2025 included Unitree Robotics, Booster Robotics, EngineAI, and HONOR Robotics — all firms covered extensively on RobotToday.com.
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