Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. This week, China's leading robotics minds gathered in Beijing for a hotly-anticipated, Olympics-style event dubbed the world's first "Humanoid Robot Games." Over the course of just over an hour, an assortment of wobbly, bipedal robots "competed" in soccer, running, and kickboxing. Others danced alongside far more coordinated children, while a handful struggled to play pre-programmed instruments. The entire awkward affair, touted as a showcase of the country's robotics prowess, highlighted how far the industry still has to go to approach anything resembling human-level performance.

Other categories at the robotics championships -- attended by more than 450 teams from 50 countries -- asked participants to create robotics solutions to reduce or recycle waste, leading teams to build robots that emptied trash bins or scooped up building debris for future use.