THERE was no blood, sweat or tears at this global athletics event but at least one head left its shoulders, there was plenty of crashing and falling over, and quite a few competitors needed to be dragged off the field after collapsing in a tangled heap.
The first World Humanoid Robot Games, which took place in Beijing, China recently, was both an impressive showcase of robotics technology and a demonstration of its limitations when compared to the strength, speed, grace and agility the human body is capable of.
More than 500 bipedal humanoid robots from 16 countries took part in the Olympic-style games in events including soccer, running, kickboxing and dancing.
“In many cases,” noted Popular Science of the competitive events, “gravity was the real winner.”
The games opened with…