Photo: courtesy of Shenzhen robotics firm EngineAI

A white humanoid robot dubbed "White Eagle" sent the crowd into a frenzy Thursday night in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province after landing a precise high kick to the head of its black-clad opponent, "Matador," at what organizers billed as the world's first free humanoid robot fighting competition.

The event, held at the Shenzhen Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, marked the debut of the Ultimate Robot Knock-out Legend (URKL) — an inaugural freestyle combat tournament for full-sized humanoid robots launched by Shenzhen robotics firm EngineAI.

According to the information the organizers shared with the Global Times on Friday, the match featured real, full-scale humanoid robots exchanging punches, kicks and evasive maneuvers in front of a live audience. 32 teams from around the world were selected to compete, all using EngineAI's full-size humanoid robot, the EngineAI T800 full-Size general humanoid robot, as the standardized fighting platform.

One of the most dramatic moments of the opening bout came when a robot's head was knocked off during combat. Even after losing head-mounted sensing functions, the machine continued to throw punches and absorb strikes, finishing the match through its torso-based core systems — a display organizers said demonstrated the robot's durability and impact resistance, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

According to EngineAI, the T800 stands 1.73 meters tall and is capable of performing advanced movements such as uppercuts, spinning kicks and rapid recovery after being knocked to the ground. The company said the robot is equipped with strong posture control, dynamic perception and shock-absorbing capabilities designed for high-intensity combat.

Internationally known action actor Donnie Yen also appeared at the event, who said the live robot fight was more impressive than anything seen on film.

"Honestly, I used to see robot fighting only in science fiction movies," Yen said at the opening. "But today, for the first time, I got to watch real robots fighting up close. Witnessing this historic breakthrough firsthand was completely different. The weight of the machines, the precision of their movements — it was incredible."

EngineAI founder and CEO Zhao Tongyang said the Shenzhen event was designed to build a globally influential commercial humanoid robot fighting IP, while also accelerating research and industrialization. "We want to use competition to drive research and industry development," Zhao said. "Let the event feed back into technology, and let technology drive the industry."

He said the tournament would help validate key frontier technologies, including mechanical structural balance, millisecond-level intelligent decision-making and multimodal sensor coordination. Feedback from real combat scenarios, he added, would speed up the transition of intelligent robots from laboratory prototypes to commercial applications.

Organizers emphasized that the competition is about more than brute force. Unlike traditional fighting sports, the URKL format evaluates robots across four categories: effective strikes, body stability, defensive and evasive ability, and overall durability.