BEIJING — They aren’t the most graceful athletes, or the fastest. But they’re learning.

From Friday to Sunday, human handlers from 16 countries put about 500 bipedal robots through various motions to showcase the promise and limits of embodied artificial intelligence at what was billed as the first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing .

The robotic participants came in all shapes, sizes and structures and competed in 26 different sports events ranging from running to kickboxing to soccer . The unusual state-backed sports tournament at the National Speed Skating Oval, a Beijing Olympic venue, came as the United States and China race against each other to shape the future of AI.

There were no speed records being set, and many of the athletes were prone to fizzling and face pla

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