The competition begins Friday with more than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries, including the U.S., Germany and Japan, competing in sports including soccer, running and boxing.

Unitree Robotics brought the spotlight-grabbing machines at Beijing’s set piece robots competition on Friday, burnishing its reputation as a national champion for China’s ambitions in developing AI an...

Some were remarkably fast and agile, but most were clumsy and inconsistent.