Humanoid robots beat humans in China half-marathon — and set world record | Latest Tech News
Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots confirmed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous navigation expertise as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, highlighting the sector’s fast technical advances.
The race’s inaugural version last yr was riddled with mishaps, and most robots had been unable to end.
Last yr’s champion robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, more than double the time of the human winner of the traditional race.
A humanoid robot runs in the second Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon in Beijing, China, April 19, 2026. Haruna Furuhashi/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock
The successful robot, developed by Chinese smartphone model Honor, completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. Haruna Furuhashi/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock
This yr’s distinction was stark. Not only had the quantity of taking part groups elevated from 20 to more than 100, but a number of robot frontrunners had been noticeably quicker than skilled athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes.
Unlike last yr, almost half of the robot entrants navigated the harder terrain autonomously instead of being directed by distant control during the 13-mile race. The robots and 12,000 males and ladies ran in parallel tracks to keep away from collisions.
The successful robot, developed by Chinese smartphone model Honor, completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, a number of minutes quicker than the half-marathon world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month.
Spectators movie a child-like humanoid robot and dog-like robot interacting at the second Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon. JESSICA LEE/EPA/Shutterstock
Teams from Honor, a Huawei spin-off, took the three podium spots, all self-navigated and posting world-record-beating occasions.
Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the successful crew, said its robot was in development for a yr, fitted with legs 90 to 95 cm (35 to 37 inches) long to mimic elite human runners and liquid cooling technology used in its smartphones.
Du said the sector remained in a nascent section, but he was assured humanoids would ultimately reshape many industries, including manufacturing.
A robot sits on a cart at the second Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon. JESSICA LEE/EPA/Shutterstock
“Running faster may not seem meaningful at first, but it enables technology transfer, for example, into structural reliability and cooling, and eventually industrial applications,” Du said.
Spectators largely seen the range of humanoids of different sizes and gaits on show as evidence of China’s enhancements in robotics.
“The humanoid robots’ running posture I saw was really quite impressive … considering that AI has only been developing for a short time, I’m already very impressed that it can achieve this level of performance,” said Chu Tianqi, a 23-year-old engineering scholar at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
Several robots had been noticeably quicker than skilled athletes, beating humans by more than 10 minutes. Haruna Furuhashi/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock
“The future will definitely be an AI era. If people don’t know how to use AI now, especially if some are still resistant to it, they will definitely become obsolete,” he said.
Another spectator, 11-year-old schoolboy Guo Yukun, said after watching the race, he was impressed to pursue a college degree in robotics in the future.
Guo said he takes common lessons in robotics concept and programming at his elite Beijing faculty, and is half of his faculty’s crew for the International Olympiad in Informatics, a global programming competitors for high schoolers.
The robots and 12,000 males and ladies ran in parallel tracks to keep away from collisions.. ANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES/EPA/Shutterstock
While economically viable functions of humanoid robots largely stay in a trial section, the half-marathon’s showcasing of these machines’ bodily prowess highlights their potential to reshape every thing from harmful jobs to battlefield fight.
However, Chinese robotics corporations are still struggling to develop the AI software program that would allow humanoids to match the effectivity of human manufacturing facility staff.
Experts said the talents on show during the half-marathon, while entertaining, don’t translate to the widespread commercialization of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where guide dexterity, real-world notion, and capabilities past small-scale, repetitive duties are essential.
China is searching for to develop into a global powerhouse in this frontier industry, and it has enacted a wide selection of insurance policies from subsidies to infrastructure tasks to domesticate local corporations.
The nation’s most-watched TV show, the annual CCTV Spring Festival gala, in February showcased China’s push to dominate humanoid robots and the future of manufacturing.
That included a prolonged martial arts demonstration where over a dozen Unitree humanoids carried out refined battle sequences waving swords, poles and nunchucks in close proximity to human kids performers.
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