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The idea of a robot uprising actually coming to fruition has become a bit more realistic in recent years due to how far technology has come. However, if you’ve found yourself worrying about an army of A.I.-powered androids attempting to conquer humanity in the near future, you might breathe a little easier after watching a soccer match that would suggest they have a long way to go.

The science-fiction genre has been able to predict and inspire the development of a number of forms of once-futuristic technologies that eventually became a reality, including holograms, space stations, and self-driving cars.

With that said, there are plenty of other revolutionary advancements that continue to evade us, although some dedicated experts have made it their mission to fill some of those voids.

For example, Boston Dynamics has spent the past couple of decades teasing a vision of the future where its increasingly capable robots are able to efficiently perform a number of fairly complicated tasks, and that mission has been further with the help of the massive strides that have been made in the realm of artificial intelligence in recent years.

We’re seemingly still a while away from a world that resembles the one depicted in I, Robot (which, if you’re curious, was set in 2035), although it’s become a bit harder to laugh off concerns about computers mounting a revolution that were once viewed as largely hyperbolic when you consider a recent study found A.I. is willing to let someone die in the name of self-interest.

The companies that have gone all-in on robotics and A.I. have also implicitly embraced a timeline where a sizeable chunk of tasks that have historically been delegated to human beings are handled by machines, which has understandably made many people wary about the impact that development could have on the jobs they rely on to survive.

I can’t imagine professional soccer players are overly concerned about being replaced, but it does not appear they’ll be facing any stiff competition for a while based on what went down when a company in China organized some three-on-three soccer matches between robots relying on fully autonomous A.I.

China’s first AI robot soccer tournament debuts in Beijing with fully autonomous playpic.twitter.com/Ukq7y86XiQ

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 30, 2025

According to the Associated Press, the tilt—which largely revolved around the robots shuffling around awkwardly and being taken off of the pitch on a stretcher after falling for no real reason—was designed to serve as a preview of what to expect when the World Humanoid Robot Games are held in Beijing in August.

That robot twist on the Olympics will feature machines taking part in 11 different sports including gymnastics and track and field, but we’ll have to wait and see if the ones competing in the other disciplines will show a little more competency.