A Chinese company Engine AI has held the world’s first humanoid robots mixed martial arts (MMA) fight, marking a new era of technological advancement in robotics.
The humanoid robot combat sport championship named Ultimate Robot Knock-out Legend (URKL) was held in Shenzhen Nanshan Culture and Sports Center.
The event was held to showcase the Engine AI’s full human sized robot, T800, capable of hand-to-hand combat. The fight was held under a set of rules that was designed to test the agility, balance, impact tolerance, durability and real-time control of robots.
Over 200 teams from 10 countries, including the U.S., took part in the competition. After the online rounds, 32 finalists were selected. Each finalist received Engine AI’s T800 humanoid as a standardized platform before adding their own software and hardware optimizations.
They were asked to come up with their own custom optimizations to get their robot to fight better, competing for a prize pool of around $1.48 million.
The teams which participated in the competition include: University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and the University of Hong Kong.
Chinese media outlet China Focus revealed that the championship is ongoing and will run through the end of the year to determine the champion robot. The humanoids will be evaluated on motion control, balance algorithms, perception, decision-making, power systems and structural protection.
Another thing that caught fans’ attention was the presence of Chinese actor Donnie Yen at the championship.
The actor is known for his martial arts skills and has played prominent roles in John Wick: Chapter 4, Legend of the Fist: Return of Chen Zenand Flash Point.
2026-07-18 20:05:00
