More than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries are competing in 26 events ranging from soccer and boxing to sorting medicine and cleaning up at the first World Humanoid Robot Games.

Three days of competitions began in Beijing, China, on Thursday evening as the country steps up efforts to develop robots powered by artificial intelligence.

Winning isn't everything

"We come here to play and to win. But we are also interested in research," said Max Polter, a member of the HTWK Robots football team from Germany, affiliated with Leipzig University of Applied Sciences, told Reuters news agency.

"You can test a lot of interesting, new and exciting approaches in this contest. If we try something and it doesn't work, we lose the game," Polter said. "That's sad, but it is better than investing a lot of money into a product that fails."

Not approaching human record … yet?

The robots crashed into each other and toppled over repeatedly during football matches, while another fell over mid-sprint during running events. The AFP news agency reported that one of the fastest robots finished a 1,500-meter race in 6:29:37 — well off the current human record of 3:26:00.

At the kung fu competition, a child-sized robot resembling one from the popular Transformer series tried a complicated move only to fall on its face and spin on the floor in an attempt to get back up. The crowd, however, cheered happily.

China's focus on robotics and AI

Chinese officials made humanoids the "center of their national strategy," the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) wrote in a paper published Thursday. 

"The government wants to showcase its competence and global competitiveness in this field of technology," it added.

In March, China announced plans for a one-trillion-yuan fund (€119 billion, $139 billion) to support technology startups, including those in robotics and AI.

Joost Weerheim, part of the Dutch five-a-side robot football team, told AFP he was impressed by the skill of China's teams.

"I think right now if they are not already the world leader, they are very, very quickly becoming it," he said.

Robotic games at Olympic venue

Tickets to the humanoid games at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, range from 180 yuan (about €22, $25) to 580 yuan (about €69, $80).

China has staged several robotics events in recent months, including what it called the world'sfirst humanoid robot marathon, a robot conference and the opening of retail stores dedicated to humanoid robots.

Edited by: Louis Oelofse