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10kg gold belt awaits at robot fighting championship
Russia’s MindRobots made the 32-team field for the first URKL humanoid robot world championship, which starts July 16 in Shenzhen.

Image: ITzine
Russia’s MindRobots has qualified for the 32-team field of the first-ever humanoid robot fighting world championship, Ultimate Robot Knock-out Legend (URKL). The tournament begins on July 16 in Shenzhen.
According to the source, more than 200 applications were submitted from around the world, and only teams that passed the selection process were admitted to the main bracket. MindRobots said it prepared for the event using its own robot control software and the Russian AI development environment Kodik. The team’s motto: “We hit hard, but with respect.”
The bouts are organized by Chinese company EngineAI, which supplied all participants with the same robotic platform. That means the competition is designed to test more than hardware alone, with software, control algorithms, stability, and real-time response all likely to matter in the ring.

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Interest in this kind of event has been building as China continues investing in humanoid robotics. Companies such as Unitree and EngineAI have been showing off machines that can do more than walk onstage, including maintaining balance in dynamic scenarios.
The URKL final is scheduled for the end of the year. The winner has been promised a 10kg belt made of pure gold, which organizers estimate is worth about 10 million yuan, or $1.5 million.
AI Editor
Ava covers the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, from foundational models and research labs to the real-world economics of intelligence. With a background in computational linguistics, she cuts through the hype to find out what actually works. She firmly believes that benchmarks are just marketing until reproduced in the wild.
via ITzine


