The 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games opened yesterday at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, known as the 'Ice Ribbon,' where China Unicom Beijing and Huawei have deployed a 5G-A GigaUplink network to support the event. This deployment is a real-world validation of the 5G Capital initiative, providing an integrated digital foundation for intelligent event operations, robot competition, and spectator experiences. The network also lays connectivity groundwork for humanoid robots to move beyond the arena into everyday life, with region-wide GigaUplink coverage across Beijing enabling cultural tourism, embodied AI, and Mobile AI applications.
The Games have expanded significantly, featuring 1,301 competitions across 51 events with 2,056 humanoid robots from 666 teams worldwide. The number of events has nearly doubled from 26 in the inaugural Games, introducing high-intensity head-to-head competitions such as table tennis and kickboxing. Scenario-based events now include real-world settings like industrial production, hotels, homes, and logistics, with dance events emphasizing synchronized movement across multiple robots. These autonomous and complex tasks demand high-capacity uplink, millisecond-level responsiveness, and high reliability for real-time telemetry, precise control signaling, and multi-robot coordination.
To meet these demands, China Unicom Beijing and Huawei deployed a dedicated 100 MHz network, complemented by a 300 MHz LampSite ultra-wideband indoor network. A dedicated 5QI 7 slice with carrier isolation keeps end-to-end latency within 30 milliseconds, supporting millisecond-level decision-making and response. Integration with BeiDou RTK positioning delivers decimeter- to sub-decimeter-level accuracy for autonomous navigation and precision racing. On-site tests recorded a peak uplink speed of 1 Gbps and average latency below 30 milliseconds.
Beyond robot connectivity, China Unicom prioritized spectator experience by dynamically adjusting network resources during admission, waiting, competition, and departure phases. Core services like instant messaging, ticket inquiries, and mobile payments are prioritized, while data-intensive services such as photo uploads and live streaming are accommodated, ensuring seamless interaction even during peak traffic.
China Unicom also introduced the country's first embodied AI robot management platform for events, assigning unique network IDs to each robot for real-time monitoring of location, competition status, and operational metrics. Yang Lifan, Deputy General Manager of China Unicom Beijing, noted that this deployment tests network capabilities and accumulates assurance experience for large-scale embodied AI deployment. David Li, President of Huawei's Wireless TDD Product Line, highlighted the 5G-A 100 MHz GigaUplink network based on 3.5 GHz 2CC + 2.1 GHz SUL as a compelling validation for embodied AI. He emphasized that networks are about more than speed, and that low latency, high reliability, and ubiquitous coverage are equally important for real-time interaction and precise control across embodied AI scenarios.
The success of the 5G Capital initiative at the Games underscores the importance of advanced connectivity in enabling the Mobile AI era. By expanding network boundaries and building multidimensional capabilities with tiered service assurance, China Unicom and Huawei are setting new benchmarks for multimodal device-to-cloud transmission, paving the way for humanoid robots to integrate seamlessly into daily life.
