World’s first humanoid robot sports league launches in Riyadh

The world’s first global humanoid robot sports league, CyberHero, has launched in Riyadh, with Hero Esports announcing plans for an inaugural season spanning eight cities worldwide.

The inaugural event, CyberHero x Riyadh, was held at Boulevard City on September 9, bringing humanoid robots into a combat competition and offering a preview of the league’s format and broader vision.

Created by Hero Esports, Asia’s largest esports company, CyberHero will span four regions: the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and Asia. Two of the eight events are planned for the Middle East.

The league focuses on physical AI, bringing together artificial intelligence and machines that operate in the physical world. Hero Esports aims to use competition to test the capabilities of humanoid robots, generate performance data and explore how humans, AI and robots can increasingly work together.

The Riyadh event also marked the Middle East’s first humanoid robot combat show, featuring EngineAI T800 humanoid robots in a purpose-built arena. The robots stand approximately 1.73 metres tall, weigh between 75 and 85 kilograms and have 29 articulated joints. They can walk, run, punch, kick, turn and recover after falling.

“CyberHero was born from a bold idea about the future of competition: that robots can be pushed to test their limits, break new boundaries and improve through data generated in competition,” said Danny Tang, co-founder and CEO of Hero Esports.

“That is one of the lessons we have learned from esports, and it is also a responsibility we see for Hero Esports over the next decade to use competition to drive innovation and progress. We are now establishing a global technology lab at our Shanghai headquarters to bring together technical expertise and talent from around the world,” Tang said.

As the series develops, Hero Esports is seeking partnerships across universities and education, tourism, technology, sports, entertainment, business and music.

Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation, welcomed Riyadh as the host of the first CyberHero event and highlighted Saudi Arabia’s continued investment in esports and the growth of the sector.

At the heart of CyberHero is a team-based competition model that brings together builders, coders and drivers. Builders design and engineer the robots, coders develop and train their AI systems, and drivers control the robots and make real-time decisions during the competition.

Combat is the league’s first discipline, with additional formats planned as humanoid robots become more capable. The long-term goal is to build a globally competitive platform that evolves alongside advances in physical AI.