# Beijing humanoid games show faster robots alongside control failures

_Published Thursday, August 27, 2026 at 4:18 AM EDT · Robotics · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![An Honor humanoid robot breaks into pieces as it runs next to two Tian Gong Ultras, center and left, in the second heat of the large robot category of the 100 meter at the 2nd World Robot Games at National Speed Skating Oval on August 25, 2026 in Beijing, China. — Primary](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/World-Humanoid-Robot-Games-2026-1152x648.jpg)

The World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing showed humanoid robots surpassing human records in the 100-meter sprint and standing high jump, while other machines crashed into barriers, fell, broke at the waist or caught fire, Ars Technica reported.

The August 22-26 event also tested laundry, soccer and table tennis tasks. A Purdue computer-science researcher told Ars that the performance gains from the prior year indicate progress in whole-body control for specific tasks, but robots remained slower than people in practical laundry work.

## Sources

- [Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/08/world-humanoid-robot-games-show-runners-breaking-records-bursting-into-flames/)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/Y8R0EBx8goOFjsHU8Z6lW8
Published: 2026-08-27T08:18:13.445Z
Story chronology: 2026-08-25T20:59:03.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-10-11T13:44:17.091Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)