The 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games, held at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, also known as the 'Ice Ribbon,' opened yesterday with a significant technological upgrade. China Unicom Beijing and Huawei have deployed a 5G-A GigaUplink network to support the event, marking another real-world validation of the 5G Capital initiative in robotics and embodied AI. This integrated digital foundation not only supports intelligent event operations, robot competition, and spectator experiences but also lays the groundwork for humanoid robots to transition from the arena to everyday life.
The Games have expanded substantially this year, 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 competitions now extend into real-world settings including industrial production, hotels, homes, and logistics, while dance events emphasize synchronized movement across multiple robots. These more autonomous formats and increased task complexity demand high-capacity uplink, millisecond-level responsiveness, and high reliability to support real-time robot telemetry, precise control signaling, and multi-robot coordination.
To meet these stringent requirements, China Unicom Beijing and Huawei have deployed a dedicated 100 MHz network, complemented by a 300 MHz LampSite ultra-wideband indoor network. This setup supports real-time robot telemetry and precise signaling exchange. A dedicated 5QI 7 slice combined with carrier isolation keeps end-to-end latency for humanoid robots within 30 milliseconds, enabling millisecond-level decision-making and response, crucial for multi-robot coordination, obstacle avoidance, and fine-motion control. By integrating the network with BeiDou RTK positioning, the solution delivers decimeter- to sub-decimeter-level positioning accuracy, supporting 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, the network experience for on-site spectators has been prioritized. Dynamic adjustments to network resources and service assurance policies are made according to different event phases and areas, including admission, waiting, competition, and departure. Core services such as instant messaging, ticket inquiries, QR-code admission, and mobile payments are prioritized for stable access, while data-intensive services like photo uploads, short-video sharing, and live streaming are accommodated. This ensures spectators stay connected and can share highlights in real time even during peak traffic.
China Unicom has also developed China's first embodied AI robot management platform designed for event scenarios. Each robot is assigned a unique network ID, allowing event staff to monitor its location, competition status, and operational metrics in real time, creating a closed-loop operations and management system. Yang Lifan, Deputy General Manager of China Unicom Beijing, stated that this deployment is a real-world test of network capabilities and will help accumulate valuable assurance experience for large-scale deployment of embodied AI. David Li, President of Huawei's Wireless TDD Product Line, highlighted that the Games provide compelling validation of the 5G-A 100 MHz GigaUplink network based on 3.5 GHz 2CC + 2.1 GHz SUL for embodied AI scenarios. Looking ahead, Huawei will continue to work with China Unicom Beijing to strengthen uplink capabilities and advance spectrum coordination, building multidimensional network capabilities with tiered and differentiated service assurance for multimodal device-to-cloud transmission.
This deployment underscores that networks are about more than speed; low latency, high reliability, and ubiquitous coverage are equally important. As the 5G Capital initiative advances, it continues to expand the boundaries of network performance, laying a solid foundation for the Mobile AI era and enabling an intelligent future.
