After months of training for battle, China’s humanoid robots are popping up everywhere in the West.
They just proved they don’t need help from humans to play football in Beijing. And now, they’re emerging in clandestine arenas to bring it on. The first rule is to pretend it’s just a demo.
Meanwhile, back in the mainland, leading robotics firms are sharing shocking progress. As they move toward mass deployment, they’re enhancing their humanoids to walk, think, and train with a level of sophistication that was unthinkable just a year ago.
SF’s Robot Fight Club
In San Francisco, an underground fight club for robots has emerged, featuring high-end humanoid cage matches. Viral clips circulating on social media show short humanoids from the Chinese companies Unitree Robotics and Booster Robotics participating.
Hangzhou-based Unitree recently reached unicorn status after disrupting the humanoid robotics market with its G1 robot, which has become popular among researchers, developers, and increasingly, content creators, thanks to its relatively low price, starting at $16K.
Unitree’s robotic dogs, which are even more popular, also appeared in videos from the event. Booster’s T1 humanoids, which are priced starting around $34K, have become widely adopted in robot competitions like RoboCup and Beijing’s recent fully autonomous three-on-three robot football match.
The San Francisco event, called the Automata Ultimate Fighting Bots (UFB) tournament, reportedly took place in a secret basement venue with a cyberpunk rave-like atmosphere. On social media, the event’s organizers teased that the tournament was just a glimpse of what’s coming.
The night’s winner is known as @cixlilv on X, an entrepreneur who’s gone viral while jogging with his G1 humanoid on the streets of San Francisco. He’s also the co-founder of REK, which is developing a VR game where players train to pilot virtual robots with movement mechanics mirroring real humanoids. Top players will have the chance to control full-sized humanoids in real-world fights.
The founder has been sharing clips of himself training full-sized Unitree H1 robotic humanoids for battle. On the X social media platform, CIX said backlash is brewing over the event and San Francisco’s evolving tech culture. He acknowledged that the robots look like toddlers during combat, but the technology is advancing rapidly.
“What makes SF culture different is that people trust the process,” he wrote. “They know that while it may look like a toy now, with enough time and smart people great things can happen. Someday, something that the average person will find useful will be born.”
The tournament’s organizers are among the first movers in a niche market that’s emerging amid the humanoid robotics craze. They’re appealing to the same demographic that previously grew up playing Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots and aggressively modifying remote-control cars for combat. The idea is similar to the 2011 movie Real Steel, which was inspired by a 1963 Twilight Zone episode based on a short story by Richard Matheson, the author of I Am Legend.
In Detroit, a G1 humanoid robot named Zion made headlines for strolling around 7 Mile like a real person. According to reports, it’s promoting an upcoming event called RoboWar, Art Cartwright’s Interactive Combat League.
Earlier this year, Ultimate Fighting Bots teamed up with Booster Robotics and Singapore-based Frodobots to launch an online platform that allows anyone in the world to control real humanoids in live combat matches.
Also this year, Unitree Robotics held its first-ever mixed martial arts match between humanoid robots in Hangzhou, near its new 10,000-square-meter factory. Four Unitree G1 humanoids competed in one-on-one matches consisting of three two-minute rounds, with points awarded for effective strikes and penalties for knockdowns.
During the inaugural event, called Iron Fist King: Awakening, human controllers operated the robots in real-time using voice commands and remote controls.
The G1 robot introduced itself to the world in March 2024 wielding a baton. It was notable for its record low price, which Shenzhen’s EngineAI beat in December 2024 with its short king called the PM01. Like the G1, the $14K PM01 is mostly intended for researchers and developers today. The two robots are bound to fight at some point, as Engine is planning its own spectacle.
The startup says it will hold the world’s first full-sized humanoid robot boxing tournament, called Mecha King, in December 2025.
LimX CL-3 Update
Also in Shenzhen, LimX Dynamics just shared footage of its next-generation humanoid robot showing off its improved strut. The startup, known for its agile biped and quadruped robots, teased that a full reveal is coming soon.
Standing 64 cm tall, the CL-3 sports a sleek metallic silver and black finish for a futuristic, high-tech aesthetic. It perceives its surroundings with its sensor-equipped head unit, which houses cameras, LiDAR, and depth sensors for real-time terrain mapping and obstacle detection.
The robot’s hollow high-torque-density actuators provide full-body balance and smoother movements. In another recent video, a CL-3 robot showcased its fluidity by performing office-style stretches. According to LimX, the stretching routines are enabled by 31 degrees of freedom.
LimX introduced its first CL-series humanoid, the CL-1, in late 2023. The robotics firm has grown swiftly since its founding just a few years ago. Earlier in 2025, Alibaba-backed LimX announced it had raised nearly $70 million in a Series A funding round as it aggressively moves its advanced prototypes to commercial products.
LimX has previously demonstrated its flagship humanoid’s potential in logistics. The startup’s other platform is the Tron 1, which it calls the world’s first multimodal bipedal robot. The Tron 1, first introduced in October 2024, switches between walking, point-foot balancing, and high-speed wheeled locomotion in real time.
LimX is pitching the platform as a gateway into humanoid reinforcement learning research. It’s designed for academia, AI, robotics labs, and industrial R&D teams. Its pricing starts at $15K.
Shenzhen’s Humanoids
LimX’s CL-3 is among a truly staggering number of AI-powered humanoids emerging from Shenzhen, the booming tech hub often called the Chinese Silicon Valley.
Shenzhen-based Dobot, which rose from a Kickstarter campaign to become an industrial automation leader, says its first robotic humanoid, Atom, has entered mass production. Priced around $27K, Atom boasts a human-like walking gait and fine motor control precise enough to pick up a cherry by the stem without crushing it.
Another major player, Pudu Robotics, is commercializing its wheeled and bipedal humanoids using its sizable commercial base. Its flagship humanoid, the Pudu D9, is built to serve in places like warehouses, retail stores, and hotels. Pudu, which recently shipped its 100,000th service robot, has priced a full-sized humanoid at between $20K and $30K.
A newer firm, AI² Robotics, recently raised hundreds of millions of yuan to rush its wheeled AlphaBot general-purpose humanoid to market. An even younger Shenzhen startup, Lumos Robotics, has reportedly raised nearly $28 million in angel funding to develop a full-stack humanoid robotics platform.
The first Lumos prototype, called the LUS1, debuted in early 2025. The second-generation iteration emerged in June, demonstrating the ability to get up from the ground in just a second. According to Lumos, the LUS2 robotic humanoid served as a welcome ambassador during a recent visit by the Austrian Council.
Other notable Shenzhen humanoid robotics companies include:
- DIGIT, which has unveiled multiple lines of sci-fi-inspired humanoids just a year after its launch.
- UBTECH, the leading Chinese robotics firm, which recently introduced its first hyper-realistic android named Una and is mass-producing its Walker S industrial humanoids, reportedly helping assemble iPhones for Foxconn.
- Xpeng, an EV manufacturer planning to mass-produce its IRON humanoid robots in 2026.
PNDbotics Office Assistant
In Beijing, the rising startup PNDbotics just shared a demo showcasing its flagship humanoid robot Adam’s potential as an office assistant. The startup emphasizes the humanoid’s biomimetic torso and modular actuators that unlock humanlike body motions.
Standing around 1.6 meters tall and weighing 60 kilos, Atom now has enhanced precise manipulation capabilities. The robotic humanoid also has an improved walking gait, which PNDbotics says is thanks to its proprietary reinforcement learning algorithm. PNDbotics’ mission is to create a general-purpose fake human capable of operating effectively in any scenario.
ROBOTERA’s Slim-Waisted Humanoid
Also in Beijing, the startup ROBOTERA recently unveiled its sleek service humanoid with a compact waist design that’s narrower than an iPhone. Standing 165 cm tall, the wheeled Q5 humanoid boasts 44 DoF, including 11 in each hand.
According to ROBOTERA, the Q5 fuses LiDAR and stereo vision for smooth navigation. Its AI-powered dialogue system understands 37 languages. ROBOTERA says the slim-waisted design empowers the Q5 to maneuver tight indoor spaces and avoid obstacles.
The Q5 humanoid is powered by the startup’s foundational model called ERA-42, which supports human-in-the-loop learning, closed-loop iteration, and continuous self-improvement. Capable of speeds up to 1.5 meters per second, the Q5 is intended for hospitality, retail, tourism, and healthcare.
ROBOTERA says it’s already received more than 110 orders. Launched in August 2023, the company was incubated by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University. ROBOTERA previously gained attention with its bipedal humanoids that broke records for speed and for being the first to climb the Great Wall of China.
AgiBot’s Lingxi X2-N
Meanwhile in Shanghai, Aabot just shared footage of its new short humanoid robot, putting its unique hybrid locomotion system to the test. The Lingxi X2-N bipedal robot can walk, roll, and dynamically switch between modes within seconds.
Its feet work kind of like Heelys, those sneakers that switch to roller skates. The robot can walk and slide at the same time. Standing 1.3 meters, or about the height of an average 8-year-old, the Lingxi around 34 kg and boasts 28 DoF.