On Sunday, the 2025 RoboCup Humanoid League finals came to an end in Brazil. In a thrilling match, Tsinghua University’s Hephaestus team defeated China Agricultural University’s Mountain Sea team 5-3 to win the championship. This victory made history: it was the first time China had claimed the gold medal in the 28-year history of the Humanoid AdultSize Soccer Competition at the event.
Chinese teams performed exceptionally well right from the group stage. The Hephaestus team, using China’s home-developed T1 humanoid robots, dominated their opponents. They achieved several big wins without letting the other side score, including 16-0, 9-0, and 12-0 victories over the US team UT Austin Villa. A memorable moment in the group stage was when one of Hephaestus’ robots scored the “best goal” of the tournament. It copied the famous diving header by Dutch footballer Robin van Persie: the robot judged the ball’s path near the goal, jumped forward, and headed it into the net. People called this exciting goal the “robot Van Persie dive.”
Other Chinese teams also did well. Tsinghua University’s TH-MOS team took second place in the KidSize category. In the KidSize final, both the German team Boosted HTWK and China’s TH-MOS used the K1 robot. What’s worth noting is that many teams, including those from Germany and the US, chose Chinese-made robots like T1 and K1.
RoboCup, started in 1997, is the world’s top robotics competition. It’s famous for its large scale, high reputation, and strict technology requirements. Among all its events, the Humanoid category gets the most attention. According to its official website, RoboCup has a big goal: “By the middle of the 21st century, a team of fully independent humanoid robot soccer players will win a football game against the recent World Cup champion, following all FIFA’s official rules.”
Many teams from the 2025 RoboCup are expected to join the first World Humanoid Sports Games. This event will be held in Beijing in August, and it will feature the world’s first 5v5 AI robot soccer game.
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