Beijing-based Galbot's humanoid robots completed more than 100 consecutive autonomous tennis rallies against former world number 15 Zheng Jie at the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on August 22–23, 2026, in what the company describes as the world's first live autonomous humanoid robot tennis match1,2,5.
The demonstration included both singles and mixed-doubles formats4. In the doubles component, a robot identified as Xingzai partnered with a human player, moving forward and backward and adopting a complementary formation with its teammate. In the singles match, the robot traded forehand and backhand shots with Zheng Jie, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2008 and a career-high ranking of world number 15 before retiring from professional tennis roughly a decade ago.
Galbot says the robots autonomously tracked high-speed tennis balls, positioned themselves on court, and executed serves, forehands, backhands, returns, baseline rallies, net play, and recovery shots — with no teleoperation and no scripted sequences3. Chinese state media reported serves above 100 kilometres per hour. At one point during a rally, the robot lost its balance after chasing a high, looping ball and toppled backwards, drawing gasps from the crowd; it then rolled over, pushed itself upright within seconds, and resumed play.
The company brands the demonstration "AstraTennis" and frames it as a successor milestone to AlphaGo's 2016 victory over Go champion Lee Sedol — positioning it as AI's transition from digital strategy games into physical-world competition.
Galbot, formally Beijing Galbot Co., Ltd., has raised $800 million at a $3 billion valuation, according to one report. The company's commercial product, the G1, is a wheeled dual-arm humanoid deployed in warehouses, hospital pharmacies, and more than 30 Chinese cities under the Galbot Store brand. Galbot lists Bosch, CATL, Toyota, and Hyundai among its deployment partners. CGTN reported the tennis system was built in collaboration with Tsinghua University.
ANALYSIS The tennis-playing robot appears to be a distinct platform from the wheeled G1 — one report notes the G1 lacks legs and therefore cannot fall over or stand back up, while the tennis robot clearly did both.
The sourcing warrants scrutiny. The rally count, the world-record framing, and the no-teleoperation claim all originate from Galbot's own press release and were repeated by Chinese state broadcasters. No independent audit, published intervention rate, or third-party success-rate data accompanied the announcement.
ANALYSIS Tennis is a materially harder whole-body coordination problem than the scripted walking and sprinting routines that dominate humanoid robot demonstrations. A rally requires tracking a fast-moving object, planning a full-body response, coordinating locomotion with a racket swing, and adapting to an opponent — all within a fraction of a second per shot.
The match was broadcast globally during the opening ceremony of the second World Humanoid Robot Games, a multi-day competition in Beijing. The event also featured sprint records by other humanoid robots.
ANALYSIS If the autonomy claims hold under independent verification, the demonstration would represent a step change in real-time physical intelligence for humanoid robots — but the absence of third-party validation leaves the core claims resting entirely on the company's account.