China’s robot fighters steal the spotlight at WAIC 2025 showcase

At the WAIC 2025 event in Shanghai, China’s humanoid robotics sector showcased significant advancements, drawing widespread attention with a highlight being a dynamic boxing match between two life-sized Unitree robots. The Unitree G1 robot, notable for its compact 1.32-meter frame, agility, and powerful 120 Nm torque joints, demonstrated human-like fighting abilities with precise strikes and defensive maneuvers. This display underscored important progress in robotics design, motion control, and full-body coordination, impressing both experts and online audiences. The event featured over 150 robots and 60 new intelligent models from more than 80 enterprises, reflecting China’s rapid growth in embodied intelligence and practical robot applications. Innovations included Tencent Robotics X’s VLA language model-powered dual-arm robot capable of real-time task adaptation, Unitree’s third-generation humanoid R1 with multimodal voice and vision integration, and heavy-duty industrial humanoids like Cyborg-R01. Experts emphasized that integrating large language models with