Robots Fight It Out in China's First Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Robot Boxing Competition

Four artificial intelligence-enhanced robots have been put through their paces in a Chinese robot fighting competition, duking it out in kickboxing matches

Four artificial intelligence-enhanced robots have been put through their paces in a kickboxing competition at a recent China event.

The World Robot Competition Mecha Fighting Series had four human-controlled robots built by China-based firm Unitree compete in three, two-minute rounds with winners crowned through a points system, according to a May 26 report by the Global Times.

The robots, which were capable of spinning kicks, roundhouse kicks and punches, were able to move in a variety of directions, with one kicking up to 180 degrees.

Ahead of the boxing rounds, the pint-sized robots were put through tests to demonstrate a variety of kicks and punches and assist the organizers in refining the rules. The team with the highest points across the three rounds moves on to fight another opponent.

A punch to the head was worth one point, and a kick to the head was worth three. Teams lost five points if their robot fell and 10 points if their robot was down for over eight seconds.

The footage of the event, which was filmed at an undisclosed location in China, shows the robots moving in a fluid manner as they dodge blows and land punches and kicks.

During a livestream of the event on the state broadcaster CCTV, Unitree director Wang Qixin said the robotics company used “AI technology to let robots learn.”

“First of all, the motion capture will be based on some professional fighting athletes. Based on their motion capture data, the robot will learn these movements in the virtual world.”

In one of the first matches, a robot in pink headgear fought a robot in black headgear. After a flurry of sometimes misplaced punches and kicks, the black-donned bot was the first to be knocked down after throwing a kick and falling over. However, the black-clad android came back strong and scored a knockdown on pink in round three with a front kick. A second knockdown saw the black bot jump on the pink one to hold it down and claim the win.

The pink-wearing bot and another wearing red were both eliminated, leaving the black-donned bot and one wearing green to go toe to toe in the finals. Ultimately, the black bot was declared the champion after outscoping its opponent.

Another event with full-sized robots is reportedly locked in for December in South China’s Guangdong Province.