\ncomparing robotic and human performance is fundamentally flawed. The World Humanoid Robot Games brought together more than 2,000 robots<\/a> competing in events ranging from athletics and football to boxing and weightlifting.<\/p>\n
The scale of the competition and the technological progress on display were These machines have the shape, appearance and physical characteristics of a And sport has never been solely about producing the fastest time, highest jump or heaviest lift. When we watch athletes compete, we are not simply witnessing physical feats.<\/p>\n We are watching people contend with fatigue, pressure, uncertainty, emotion and Mastering these challenges is just as important as mastering the physical skills A robot may resemble a person, but it does not experience sport in the way humans That is why comparing a robot\u2019s sprint time with Bolt\u2019s world record is ultimately misleading. The real achievement is not athletic excellence. It is technological progress.<\/p>\n The rapid development of humanoid robots is prompting important discussions about At the same time, sport\u2019s relationship with technology has rarely been Debates continue over whether technology enhances sport or detracts from the Will they be available across sport, or only to the wealthiest countries, organisations and teams? As with many innovations, there is a risk that robotics Although some parts of the western media remain critical of the Games and This matters because sport has long been valued as something relatively accessible. The robot games also revealed how far the technology still has to go. For every One sprinting robot reportedly had to be carried away after hitting a safety barrier and catching fire<\/a>. Another crashed into a judge\u2019s table<\/a> during a weightlifting event.<\/p>\n These moments may seem amusing, but they highlight an important reality: Even so, the direction of travel is clear. In China, robotics is already becoming increasingly integrated into everyday life and industry. As humanoid technologies continue to develop and spread internationally, debates about their place in sport will only intensify.<\/p>\n For now, robots are not replacing athletes. But in the future, the governing bodies of certain sports may need to answer difficult questions about where robots belong, how they should be regulated and what role they should play in sporting competition.<\/p>\n Ross Walker is affiliated with the University of Stirling.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A humanoid robot running 100 metres in 9.39 seconds sounds extraordinary. At this week\u2019s World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, one machine reportedly beat the world record held by Usain Bolt, while another jumped higher than Javier Sotomayor\u2019s long-standing high jump mark. On the surface, these achievements appear to represent a new frontier in sport. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ngenuinely impressive. According to organisers, participation increased dramatically<\/a>
\nfrom previous events, while performance levels improved substantially across
\nseveral disciplines.<\/p>\n
\nhuman. However, their achievements are the product of entirely different
\nbiomechanics, making direct comparisons with athletes problematic.<\/p>\n
\nrisk. The Olympic movement itself defines sport through human development and
\nexperience as much as results.<\/p>\n
\nrequired to perform. It is this human experience that gives sporting achievements
\ntheir meaning and creates the connection between athletes, spectators and the
\nwider sporting community.<\/p>\n
\ndo. It does not feel nervous standing on a start line, overcome self doubt after injury, or experience the joy of victory and disappointment of defeat.<\/p>\n
\nhow technology will shape the future of sport. Robotics could help coaches<\/a> analyse performance, improve training methods and push the limits of human achievement even further.<\/p>\n
\nstraightforward. The introduction of video assistant referees (VAR) in football, for example, remains controversial<\/a> despite its aim of improving decision-making.<\/p>\n
\nexperience for players, officials and fans alike. Humanoid robotics raises even bigger questions. Who will have access to these technologies? <\/p>\n
\ncould widen existing inequalities by providing greater advantages to those who
\nalready possess significant resources.<\/p>\n
\nhumanoids, it is important to remember that western sporting culture does not
\nrepresent all of world sport. Different societies have different relationships with
\ntechnology and different expectations of what sport can be.<\/p>\n
\nFootball, often described as the people\u2019s game, became a global phenomenon
\nbecause participation was possible almost anywhere. Increasing reliance on
\nadvanced technologies risks moving sport further away from some of these
\nfoundations.<\/p>\n
\nrecord-breaking performance, there were robots falling over, colliding with barriers, crashing into equipment and, in some cases, breaking apart during competition. <\/p>\n
\nhumanoid robotics remains a developing technology rather than a finished product.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/290559\/count.gif\")
<\/p>\n