China holds 1st AI robot soccer game

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - China recently held its first artificial intelligence (AI) robot soccer game in Beijing, pitting three robots from each of two teams against one another.

THU Robotics from Tsinghua University won the match 5–3 over Mountain Sea from China Agricultural University last Saturday, according to the Global Times.

Online videos of the game show the six players kicking the ball, falling, and then getting back up.

All of the robots were reportedly controlled entirely by AI-driven strategies, allowing them to rise when down.

This game is the "first fully autonomous AI robot football match in China," and it represents "a combination of technological innovation and industrial application, as well as an important window for bringing robots into public life and real-world scenarios," said the match's organizing committee's executive director, Dou Jing, as cited by the newspaper.

It was also reported that a single robot's battery could last up to two hours.

Cheng Hao, the founder of the tournament's official robot supplier, said the robots' abilities were roughly equivalent to those of a five- to six-year-old child.

This game marked the first match of the upcoming 2025 World Humanoid Robot Sports Games, which will take place in mid-August in Beijing.

Approximately 500 people came to watch the match.