Tennis-playing humanoid robot debuts in Beijing

A humanoid robot developed by Galbot, a robotics startup in Beijing's Haidian district, has become the world's first to be capable of playing tennis.

Developed in collaboration with Tsinghua University, the robot abandons the traditional reliance on pre-programmed scripts and motion capture for real-time decision-making and whole-body coordination to rally with human players, Beijing Daily reported on Thursday.

The central innovation is the LATENT algorithm, which enables the robot to learn skills from fragmented human motion data, such as movement, swinging, and footwork, without needing complete datasets. The data allows the robot to autonomously perceive incoming balls, predict trajectories, adjust positioning, and execute strokes.

This technological breakthrough has profound implications for the robotics industry, signaling advancements in motion control, real-time perception, and decision-making. It paves the way for deploying robots in broader unstructured environments.

Beyond the tennis court, Galbot is already applying these advancements in the retail sector, operating over 40 autonomous robot-staffed stores across China.

With over 300 embodied intelligence enterprises in Haidian, including 24 humanoid robot manufacturers, the district is rapidly becoming a hub for innovation in this field, supported by a strong academic and industrial ecosystem.