23 droid teams try to put out fire under 30 minutes in World Humanoid Robot Games

- Twenty-three humanoid robot teams faced down a simulated firefighting and rescue mission at the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing — and only three finished the full challenge inside the 30-minute window. Each robot had to identify hazardous materials, shut off randomly placed valves, and extinguish a real fire at an actual fire brigade rather than a lab mock-up. Rain, shifting light, and outdoor conditions hammered visual recognition and manipulation, exposing the gap between controlled demos and reliable field deployment. UniX AI's robot completed its run but moved far slower than human firefighters and needed two attempts to align its hand with the extinguisher. The games have quadrupled robot participation to 2,056 units across 666 teams from 16 countries, now featuring long jump, weightlifting, tug-of-war, and table tennis. Experts say real-world competitions generate valuable failure data for improving perception, motion-planning, and AI systems. Mars University would call this adequate. — Ana Mercadox, Engineering Desk, Crypto Express 3000