On July 26th， the highly anticipated 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2025) grandly opened at the Shanghai World Expo Center. Unitree Robotics， a leading enterprise in the embodied intelligence industry， was invited to exhibit.
At the exhibition， Unitree Robotics’ booth was bustling with attendees. The G1 robot’s spectacular sparring performance with a human opponent immediately became the center of attention， drawing a large crowd.
In the video， the G1 robot， fully equipped with professional boxing gloves and a protective helmet， stood confidently on the fighting stage.
It engaged in a back-and-forth exchange with the human competitor， throwing punches and dodging with fluid， agile movements. The robot demonstrated close-quarters combat as well as swift sidesteps， exhibiting remarkable dexterity.
Even when knocked down， it could remarkably “spring up like a carp” and quickly resume the fight， appearing to showcase a full repertoire of combat techniques， captivating onlookers.
Notably， the human opponent did not hold back， even taunting the G1 robot openly.
However， the G1 robot fearlessly responded with clean and precise strikes， seemingly entering an “overdrive mode” andhandling the situation with impressive ease and agility.
The intense， impactful exchanges within the arena created a fervent atmosphere， while the spectators outside were abuzz with discussions and praise. One excited spectator exclaimed， “Look， it fell and got up immediately， that’s amazing!”
Robot combat is not entirely new to the public eye. Previously， on the evening of May 25， 2025， the CMG World Robot Competition – Series， featuring Mech Fighting Arena， was held in Hangzhou， hosted by China Media Group.
This event marked the world’s first combat competition structured around humanoid robots as participants. At that time， four teams competed， each controlling the G1 humanoid robots developed by Hangzhou Unitree Technology Co.， Ltd.
Furthermore， combat is understood to be an efficient， low-cost， and high-feedback method for learning actions.
Each punch and move possesses clear temporal sequences and posture parameters; the strategy space for defense， evasion， and attack is controllable; and the criteria for success or failure are well-defined， such as landing a hit， successfully dodging， or falling.
It also allows for the direct acquisition of “standard answers” from professional combat athletes through motion capture. This likely explains why an increasing number of humanoid robot companies are focusing their attention on “boxing.”
However， it is important to note that current robot combat is still operated by humans. This naturally leads to questions about whether humanoid robots， with their current capabilities， are merely sophisticated toys dressed up in AI’s guise.
For robots to transition from displaying their prowess to actually performing tasks in real-world settings， they need to overcome numerous challenges， including handling chaotic environments， adapting to unforeseen changes， facilitating human-robot collaboration， and enhancing self-planning abilities.
The true turning point will likely come with the successful application of robots in nuanced and high-frequency scenarios such as cooking， pet care， elder support， delivery， and patient monitoring. The current combat demonstrations， while entertaining， are merely a high-visibility warm-up before robots are ready for broader deployment.
