The robot uprising may have to wait. For now, the machines are still running headfirst into walls, both literal and metaphorical.
That reality was on grand display at the second iteration of the World Humanoid Robot Games, a five-day competition held in China where robots compete in Olympic-style events, which kicked off on Saturday.
Notably, in a test run, a humanoid robot named "Lightning" ran the 100-meter sprint faster than Usain Bolt did in his world-record dash in 2009, according to Chinese state media reports.
Saturday's events featured "preliminary" versions of the 100-meter and 400-meter sprints, a 7-on-7 soccer match, and brief demonstrations of other events, according to Beijing's government, which hosts the competition.
The proceedings are being livestreamed by Sports Insider on YouTube.
Though the robots can reach high speeds on the track, slowing down is another issue entirely. A blue padded wall was positioned at the end of the track on Saturday, which several robots crashed into violently. Some lost limbs in the process.
After each race, a four-man stretcher team emerged to carry them off the track. In one blistering run, a robot briefly caught fire before it was doused with a fire extinguisher.
This year's competition will feature more events than last year's. Tug-of-war, weightlifting, tennis, and traditional Chinese martial arts have all been added to the schedule, according to Chinese state media.
Here's a look at how Saturday unfolded, what to expect going forward, and how the Games fit into China's broader push into humanoid robotics.
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In an imposing sight, More than 100 robots paraded around the track while an orchestral crescendo blared through the stadium.
This march was preceded by a soccer match between two teams of seven robots each. The pace of the match was a bit plodding. Occasionally, the robots appeared to lose interest and would watch motionless while the ball skipped past them.
In one dramatic scene, a robot from the blue team delivered a vicious kick to one of the opposing team's defenders, a transgression which earned the blue robot a yellow card.
After a beat, the footage cut to a low-speed tennis match between a human and a robot. The human won the point.
According to Chinese state media, over 2,000 robots are set to participate in the events over the five days.
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