Video: China wins Robot World Cup

So while China didn't qualify for the World Cup at all, it did manage to win the Robot World Cup in Harbin, also known as the International Humanoid Robot Olympic Games.

Said one Chinese competitor, who won the small robots category, "Robot football, as well as our real human football, is advancing. Also, I think, we will see the day when China's football will soar to the sky, no matter whether they are humans or robots. Eventually they will stand on the winner's podium."

That's similar to what was said when we first found out about robot soccer five years ago. Back then, Hong Bingrong, a professor at Harbin Institute of Technology, predicted that robots will beat humans at soccer by the middle of this century. 2050 Inter-Robo-Humanoid World Cup, here we come!