Peking University, August 31, 2026: On August 25, the Peking University-Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (PKU-BAAI) joint team clinched the top spot in the Table Tennis event at the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games (WHRG), held in Beijing.
Moment of Victory
The WHRG returned this year with an expanded format of 51 categories, attracting more than 600 teams from 16 countries. Among the new additions, the table tennis event, in particular, was the litmus test of a robot's autonomous capabilities, requiring it to complete target detection, trajectory prediction, shot selection, and execution in real time, while maintaining whole-body coordination and dynamic balance.
From the group stage to the semifinals, the joint team consistently defeated its opponents with scores of 2-0. In the finals, the team faced off against the formidable SMASH team hailing from Hong Kong University, ultimately prevailing with scores of 11-0 and 11-7. Sailing to victory with a clean sheet, the joint team became one of only two university teams to win a championship in a fully autonomous competition at this year's games.
Champions led by team leader Li Xianglong.
Asked about the secret to their success, team leader Li Xianglong attributed the win to strategic emphasis on stability and their spirit of unwavering perseverance.
Indeed, this championship is the culmination of a relentless journey of intensive research and development. Since the launch of the table tennis robot project in 2024, the team, led by Professor Huang Tiejun from the School of Computer Science, has striven to overcome a series of technical bottlenecks, from "seeing" the ball to "receiving" the ball and "smashing" it back. On the eve of the competition, the team finally reaped the rewards of its hard work, achieving a technical breakthrough in autonomous ball-serving.
Commemoration of the 55th Anniversary of China-U.S. Ping-Pong Diplomacy.
The victory also followed earlier demonstrations of the table tennis robot. In April 2026, the robot jointly developed by PKU and BAAI made history by engaging in a fully autonomous table tennis match between a human and a robot during the commemoration of the 55th Anniversary of China-U.S. Ping-Pong Diplomacy.
The WHRG championship title represents one milestone achieved and a step forward in the continued advancement of humanoid robotics.
Written by: Lee Jie Xin
Edited by: Chen Shizhuo
Source: PKU News (
Chinese)
