GMO Internet Group of Japan made its first appearance at the World Humanoid Robot Sports Games in Beijing. The robot completed the 400-meter preliminary race in its debut run, finishing in about 1 minute 55 seconds.
GMO Internet Group of Japan made its first appearance at the World Humanoid Robot Sports Games in Beijing, entering a small-type robot in the 400-meter athletics preliminary race as its debut event. The robot deftly recognized the course and ran to the finish in the 1:55 range.
While Chinese-made machines specialized for racing sped around the track, GMO's robot ran slowly in a human-like posture, reflecting a development policy focused on practical applications. It was greeted by cheers at the finish before collapsing, and at one point had to be carried away on a stretcher.
GMO is a distributor for China's Unitree Robotics and entered a Unitree robot after making its own modifications. Representative Masatoshi Kumagai (熊谷正寿) decided to support the project following a proposal from a new employee in their first year with the company. Senior Research Engineer Takizawa Shota (滝沢照太) assessed the robot's completion of the race as a positive outcome for a general-purpose robot.
The organizers cited China's motorsport-style approach as part of the background to the event and expressed the view that, although the robots were highly capable, none was overwhelmingly dominant.