"A 2.1 Billion Won Gold Belt on the Line"...China to Host "Robot Fighting League"

China to Host World's First Commercial Humanoid Fighting League
Best-of-Three Format with KOs...Running Throughout the Year Until December

Humanoid robots will compete in a fighting tournament in China for a solid-gold championship belt worth about 2.1 billion won.

According to the Chinese state-run English-language outlet Global Times and others on the 10th, plans for the inaugural tournament of the humanoid robot free-fighting league "Ultimate Robot Knockout Legend (URKL)" were unveiled on the 9th in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province in southern China.

China will host the world's first humanoid robot free-fighting competition, "Ultimate Robot Knockout Legend." Yonhap News

This tournament is the world's first commercial fighting league for humanoid robots and is hosted by Zhongqing Robot Technology (Engine AI), an intelligent robot company headquartered in Shenzhen. The league will proceed in stages through this coming December, and the final winning team will be awarded a solid-gold championship belt worth 10 million yuan (about 2.1 billion won).

Matches will be held in a best-of-three format, with the winner of each round determined by which side earns more points over five minutes. As in human combat sports, KO and TKO rules will also apply. A robot will lose if it fails to stand up on its own within 10 seconds after being knocked down, or if it cannot continue the match even after receiving human assistance twice.

Each team may have one main robot and one backup robot, but substitution will be allowed only once and only with the referee's approval when the main robot suffers a critical malfunction. Battery replacement during a match is prohibited and is allowed only during breaks or when the match is stopped.

Eligible participants include universities, companies, and research institutions worldwide. All teams will be provided free of charge with the humanoid robot "T800," developed by the organizer, and will independently develop the control and application technologies needed for combat. The T800 is a full-size humanoid robot about 173 cm tall and is designed to use 29 joints across its body, excluding the hands, to perform high-difficulty moves such as 360-degree aerial spins and side kicks. According to the organizer, it features high impact resistance and strong motion stability.

Zhongqing Robot Technology stressed that this tournament will be more than just a spectacle and will serve as a proving ground for technology. The company said that, in a fighting environment inspired by "robot kung fu," it can comprehensively test motion control, balance algorithms, sensing and decision-making, power systems, and structural defense capabilities.

Zhao Tongyang, CEO of Zhongqing Robot Technology, said, "In a combat situation, a robot must simultaneously perform environmental sensing, motion prediction, and posture adjustment at the millisecond level," adding, "Balance control and impact resistance in such extreme conditions will become critical technologies that can be transferred to civilian applications."

China has recently been strategically fostering its humanoid robot industry, holding a series of events such as marathons, sports meets, and fighting tournaments. The China Electronics Society forecasts that China's humanoid robot market will reach 870 billion yuan (about 184 trillion won) by 2030.