It’s true – we are about to see the birth of an Olympics for humanoid robots:

China plans for humanoid Olympics

The international event will be held in the city of Harbin and will see robots take part in 16 different events.

Robots will be able to compete in familiar Olympic sports such as athletics as well as those more suited to machines such as cleaning.

Entry to the competition will be restricted to robots resembling humans. They must possess two arms and legs. Wheels are banned.

Harbin is located here:

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What kind of events could robots partake of at the olympic level?

There’s Cycling:

Track:

Soccer:

Baseball:

Volleyball:

The robots have a ways to go before reaching human performance, but each year they get better.

Robots already have several other competitive events that don’t discriminate against wheels:
- Federation of International Robosoccer Association
- Robocup
- Roboexotica (for cocktail robots)
- FIRST Robotics (although these robots are not autonomous)

More info:
- Fascinating to watch – the precision of today’s robots
- How robots work
- How ASIMO works