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A humanoid robot lost its head during the world’s first free-combat tournament for full-sized humanoid robots, the Ultimate Robot Knock-out Legend (URKL) competition, which started in Shenzhen, China, on Thursday.
A video shared of the combat on YouTube by local news outlet Shenzhen Story, showed that even after one of the robots had its head practically knocked off its shoulders, it continued to fight, throwing punches at its opponent and kicking into the air.
The event was organized by Shenzhen robotics company EngineAI, and 32 teams from around the world were selected earlier this year to participate in the tournament, all using the company’s T800 humanoid robots.
Newsweek has contacted EngineAI via email for comment.
What Happened In the Opening Night Fight?
URKL started on Thursday, and one of the most remarkable moments was when a white humanoid robot, named “White Eagle” landed a high kick to the head of its black opponent, “Matador,” which made the robot’s head rock precariously in its socket before rolling completely out of place.
The two continued to spar as Matador’s head was swinging from its socket until eventually the robot fell, crushing its head underneath its body.
Matador tried to scramble back to its feet, but its head flew off and the robot then collapsed back down. The White Eagle did a celebratory dance for the crowd as the fight concluded, and did a move that mimicked that of someone flexing their biceps.
The White Eagle waited in the ring, fists still up, as Matador was carried away, occasionally doing a few more dance moves.
What Is URKL?
URKL is a humanoid robot combat league launched by EngineAI in Shenzhen, and has been named as the world’s first humanoid robot free-combat league.
According to various reports, the 2026 season was announced in February and is being conducted via a tiered competition format running throughout the year. The first stage of the tournament runs from July to August, with the finals in November through December.
Per a report by Global Times, the winning team will be awarded a gold championship belt worth $1.44 million (10 million yuan) by the event organizer. Participating teams have been provided with EngineAI’s T800 humanoid robots.
EngineAI says the league’s core mission is to promote technological innovation, global collaboration and professional robotic competition. The company also describes URKL as a world-class platform for robotics technology exchange and development.
What Is The EngineAI T800 Robot?
The T800 is EngineAI’s full-size general-purpose humanoid robot, which stands at around 173 centimeters tall and has 29 mobile joints across its body, enabling it to perform a wide range of human-like movements.
The robots cost around $40,500, and each one weighs between 75 to 85 kilograms. They also have a multi-modal perception system featuring a 360-degree omnidirectional radar and millisecond-level environmental data processing.
The machines are also equipped with active cooling systems designed to enable continuous operation and high-intensity activity for up to four hours.
Additional specifications published by the company include joint torque of up to 450 newton-meters, aviation-grade aluminum alloy panels and a modular solid-state battery architecture.
EngineAI said that all of these features enable the robot to performing martial arts-inspired actions including combination punches, flying kicks, roundhouse kicks and other complex movements that are featured in combat demonstrations.
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