More than 60 teams will compete in the 2025 International Humanoid Robot Skills Competition, set to take place this Thursday in Shanghai. Participants will face 28 challenges including lifting boxes, garbage disposal, loading and unloading chained boxes, retrieving items from refrigerators, and product scanning, according to the competition organizer’s press briefing on Wednesday.
Winning teams from Thursday’s event will qualify for the upcoming competition at this year’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference, scheduled for July 26 to 28.
Zhong Junhao, secretary-general of the Shanghai AI Industry Association, emphasized during the briefing that the robot industry’s development in Shanghai focuses on economic benefits and practical applications across diverse scenarios.
“In other words, robots should do more jobs, whether household chores or factory tasks,” Zhong explained.
He highlighted the importance of embodied intelligence, where seamless coordination between software and hardware enables robots to support and complement human activities. Instead of being limited to fixed programs, robots should understand natural language instructions and possess a certain level of reasoning ability.
“When robots can understand human language, they can play a bigger role in businesses, industries, and homes—especially in smart manufacturing, logistics, and domestic services,” Zhong said.
While humanoid robots remain the long-term goal, Zhong noted that the industry is still in its early stages, so excessive focus on human-like appearance is premature. Transition solutions such as integrating wheels to improve mobility or intermediary measures to ensure dexterous robot hands can safely reach objects despite imperfect sensor systems are being considered.
This pragmatic approach aims to accelerate robot deployment while continuing technological advancements toward fully humanoid capabilities.
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