AI robots play football matches in China, show off skills, and take a few falls

Robots have manufactured, served, and now, they're playing football. Here's what happened in a recent robot vs robot football competition in China

There's a lot that has been done using artificial intelligence, including chatbots and agentic AI. But now, AI-powered robots have been used to play an actual football match. Yes, this is exactly what has happened in Beijing, wherein four teams of humanoid robots participated in 3-on-3 football matches on Saturday night. This was reportedly a preview of what is to come at the World Humanoid Robot Games, expected soon in Beijing, AP reported.

Robots battling it out in the field at the inaugural RoBoLeague robot soccer competition held in Beijing, Saturday, June 28, 2025. ((AP Photo/Ng Han Guan))

Shaurya Sharma

Fully Autonomous And Running On AI

The report added these humanoid robots were functioning fully autonomously on artificial intelligence, and there was no human support involved.

Now, how does a humanoid robot function on its own without human intervention? Well, firstly, they would need sensors and hardware capable enough to navigate their weight through the field, and this is exactly what the case is in this instance as well. These robots had advanced visual sensors, and they could identify the ball and go through the field accordingly, the report added.

Further, the robots are also able to stand on their own if they accidentally do fall, just like real-life players do.

But not all was smooth sailing for the humanoid robots involved in this game, as many had to be carried off the field, t

As for the final match, Tsinghua University's THU Robotics actually ended up defeating China Agricultural University's Mountain Sea Team in a score that was, at the end of the match, 5 to 3, and they did end up winning the championship.

China Is Boosting Its Robotics Prowess

There are already talks in place which might allow humanoid robots to play alongside humans. But for this, safety would be a great priority, Cheng Hao, founder and CEO of Booster Robotics, who provided the hardware for the competition, said.

He said that in the future, "we may arrange for robots to play football with humans. That means we must ensure the robots are completely safe." He added, “For example, a robot and a human could play a match where winning doesn’t matter, but real offensive and defensive interactions take place. That would help audiences build trust and understand that robots are safe.”

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(With AP Inputs)