Humanoid robots take to the soccer field in South Korea

Humanoid robots took to the soccer field in Incheon on Sunday (July 5) at the finals of RoboCup 2026, the world's largest robotics and artificial intelligence competition.

Team Hephaestus of Tsinghua University beat Team Mountain and Sea of China Agricultural University in the final, with robots stumbling and colliding on the pitch before getting back up to keep playing.

"Our team's ultimate goal is to be the FIFA champion in 2050," said Changsheng Luo, leader of Team Hephaestus.

Organisers said more than 3,000 competitors from 45 countries took part in the competition. More than 70% of the teams used platforms developed by Booster Robotics, a China-based humanoid robot company, according to its global team head Chaoyi Li.

"The German teams, the Korean teams, the US teams, everyone around the world is using Booster," Li said. "It's not just about the Chinese team."

Beyond the soccer pitch, robots also competed in search-and-rescue challenges simulating disaster zones.

Production: Daewoung Kim, Sebin Choi/Reuters