Humanoid Tsinghua K1 opens ROBO Cup in a Hong Kong shopping mall
English translation from Unibot. Source published 2026-06-15.
Tsinghua University's humanoid robot K1 showed off its football skills at a Hong Kong shopping mall to kick off the ROBO Cup event.
Demonstration in a shopping center
On June 14, 2026, the humanoid K1 hit a ball during a press preview of the ROBO Cup event at Whampoa Mall, China Daily reported. The event is organized by the shopping center and will take place from Saturday to Sunday.
China Daily describes the program as an interactive event to coincide with the World Cup. Child-sized humanoid robots are brought in to interact with children and bring football into the community.
Technical details
K1 is a humanoid robot developed by Tsinghua University. The source does not provide technical specifications, autonomy details, driving parameters or information on whether the football number was remotely controlled, programmed or completely autonomous.
For readers interested in robotics, this limits the analysis of public speaking.
The Importance of Public Speaking
Choosing a football demonstration is a common move for small humanoids. Hitting a ball, maintaining balance, regaining posture, and interacting safely with children are all useful public tests, even if they are for fun rather than a formal test.
The appearance in Hong Kong also shows how university humanoid platforms are being used outside research labs to interact with the public.
Event context
The ROBO Cup is part of the mall's wider World Cup promotional campaign, which also includes live football matches and other related activities, the article reports.