Humanoid robots crush half-marathon record in Beijing, beating humans by 7 minutes

Robot runner handily beats humans in half-marathon, setting new record

Humanoid robots outran the fastest human competitors while surpassing the human world record during a half-marathon event held in Beijing on April 19. The demonstration of fast-improving robotic speed and autonomy comes as China's tech industry is rapidly scaling up mass production of humanoid robots to explore possible uses in the real world. The fastest robot from Chinese smartphone-maker Honor notched a winning time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds while autonomously navigating the 13-mile (21-kilometer) route, according to the Global Times. That beat the human world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds recently set by Ugandan long-distance runner Jacob Kiplimo during the Lisbon Half Marathon. The winning robot design took inspiration from top human athletes by incorporating long legs measuring approximately 37 inches (95 centimeters) in length, said Du Xiaodi, a test development engineer for Honor, who spoke as a member of the winning team to The Associated Press and other publications. Xiaodi also described the robot as incorporating a custom liquid-cooling system -- derived from similar cooling technology for consumer electronics -- that could potentially be adapted for industrial applications. All three top-ranked robot contestants incorporated Honor's "Lightning" model to operate autonomously and beat the 12,000 human competitors who ran along a parallel track during the half-marathon event, according to Reuters. Last year's inaugural half-marathon for robotic competitors saw the fastest robot record a race time of 2 hours and 40 minutes -- still significantly slower than the human winner of the 2025 event. So a year's difference has seen notable improvements for autonomous robot runners. But overall, humanoid robots still have a long way to go in demonstrating their capability to operate in complex and sometimes chaotic environments. Autonomously navigating a half-marathon course does not necessarily lead to an immediate robotic application or spell assured success in other domains. The bigger race for humanoid robots The Beijing half-marathon event -- which featured 300 robotic contestants fielded by about 100 primarily Chinese teams -- coincides with the billions of dollars invested by Chinese and US tech industries to develop humanoid robots. Until now, industrial and domestic robot deployments have involved highly specialized robots designed to perform particular tasks. Companies are betting that humanoid robots powered by the latest AI models can eventually prove capable of stepping directly into workplaces designed for humans while flexibly tackling a wider range of tasks. The US tech industry has seen established robotics companies such as Boston Dynamics competing with startups such as Figure AI and Agility Robotics to deploy and test humanoid robots in automotive factories and warehouses. Elon Musk's company Tesla has also been shifting away from its traditional focus on electric cars to bet big on the development of an Optimus humanoid robot. Meanwhile, as a sign of how fast things are moving in China's tech industry, Honor only began expanding into robotics starting in 2025, according to the South China Morning Post. That made its half-marathon victory over more established Chinese robotics companies such as Unitree especially notable, standing out even within China's fast-growing robotics industry with its substantial government backing. "What appears to have changed this year is that some of China's many humanoid companies have invested the engineering effort needed to make these systems robust enough for a long-duration race," said Alan Fern, a robotics researcher at Oregon State University, in a New York Times interview. "That is genuinely impressive." The race to prove that humanoid robots are both useful and cost-effective is still more of a marathon than a sprint. Stanford University's 2026 AI Index Report highlighted how the "strongest signals came from early stage industrial pilot projects and manufacturing-scale ambitions rather than widespread deployment." The reports' authors also cautioned that "it remains unclear whether the demand for humanoid robots will match the supply currently being built, who the customers will be at scale, and how quickly these platforms will move from structured factory pilot projects to unstructured environments." Still, that has not stopped humanoid robot makers from eyeing sprint speed records along the way. Chinese companies such as Unitree Robotics and MirrorMe Technology recently claimed their respective humanoid robots can reach speeds of 10 meters per second -- approaching the average speed of 10.44 meters per second (more than 23 miles per hour) achieved by retired Jamaican runner Usain Bolt during his record-setting 100-meter sprint in 2009.

A Humanoid Robot Set a Half-Marathon Record in China

The star performer was a robot developed by the Chinese company Honor (the smartphone maker), which finished the 13.1-mile race in 50 minutes, 26 seconds. The human record, set by Ugandan Olympic medalist Jacob Kiplimo, is 57 minutes, 20 seconds. The result marks an impressive milestone especially considering that, just a year earlier, the fastest robot at this half-marathon event took two and a half hours to complete the same distance. But Honor's robot was not the only participant. The event consisted of more than 100 humanoid robots from 76 institutions across China. The robots lined up alongside 12,000 human runners in Beijing's E-Town, albeit on separate courses to avoid accidents. The contrast in performance between humans and robots was more than evident. A humanoid robot is designed to mimic the structure and movement of the human body, with legs, arms, and sensors that allow it to interact with its environment. In this case, the winning robot incorporated features inspired by elite runners: long legs (almost a meter), advanced balance systems, and a liquid cooling mechanism, similar to that of smartphones, to prevent overheating during the race. In addition, many of the participating robots operated autonomously, meaning without direct human control. Thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms, they could adjust their pace, maintain balance, and adapt to the terrain in real time. Notably, the Honor robot that achieved the 50-minute mark operated autonomously. The Chinese manufacturer presented another robot, operated by remote control, that ran the same stretch in even less time: 48 minutes, 19 seconds. As expected, there were some accidents in the race. Some robots fell down, others veered off the path, and several needed technical assistance along the way. While the physical performance of humanoid robots has advanced rapidly, their reliability is still developing. Of course, the laughter and jeers are no longer as frequent as they used to be, replaced by applause and exclamations of surprise. Just like the robots that went viral for their impressive martial arts display a few weeks ago, this long-distance race is part of a broader strategy by China to show off its leadership in the development of advanced robots. You don't need to be a robotics expert to see that this achievement demonstrates that machines can outperform humans at specific physical tasks under controlled conditions. (It's hard to imagine that the winning robot could achieve the same result, for example, if it started to rain during the race.) But humans still have a few tricks up their sleeve: Running in a straight line is very different from performing complex real-world activities, such as manipulating delicate objects or interacting socially. However, it's understandable that the image of a robot crossing the finish line in record time, ahead of human athletes, raises several questions. Is this the beginning of a new era in which machines redefine physical limits? One could argue that a car is a machine, and those have always been faster than humans. But a humanoid robot is designed to mimic humans. It's more alarming to see one beat humanity at its own game -- even if so many of them are still tripping over themselves.

China Robot's 50-Minute Half Marathon Shows Pace of AI Progress

On Sunday morning in a Beijing suburb, a red, humanoid robot completed a half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds -- about seven minutes faster than the men's world record. The second annual robot half marathon -- with machines running alongside human racers -- wasn't just tech gimmickry. It showed rapid advances in artificial intelligence that could allow such machines to gain the physical skills and dexterity to take on a range of tasks more rapidly than anticipated. In the inaugural robot race a year ago, the humanoids were mostly a joke. One fell at the starting line; another collapsed and broke into pieces. The vast majority of the machines failed to finish the race -- and the fastest came in far behind the flesh-and-blood winners at 2 hours and 40 minutes. This year's race demonstrated broad progress, wrote analyst Dien Wang and his colleagues at Bernstein Research. While last time, most robots had humans using remote controls to guide them through the race, 40% of the robots this year ran autonomously, they said. "The course included flat sections, slopes, narrow passages, and ~ 20 turns, demonstrating rapid improvement in robots' intelligence to handle generalized environments in the real world," they wrote. More than 100 different teams fielded 300 robots to participate in the race, hinting at the breadth and ambition of the country's strategy. The standout this year was Honor Device Co., a Chinese smartphone maker that has pivoted aggressively into robotics since it was spun out of Huawei Technologies Co. in 2020. The Shenzhen-based company's robots took all three of the top places. The winner of last year's race, a robot called Tiangong Ultra, was developed by X-Humanoid, a Beijing-based research institute. Competition among the country's developers is rising as they take advantage of a sophisticated supply chain, falling component prices, as well as rapid advances in balance, gait and energy efficiency, the Bernstein analysts wrote. While fewer robots broke down during the race this year, there were many mishaps. One bot, also built by Honor, ran full-tilt into a barricade and had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. Others stumbled at the starting line and some had mechanical failures. The race showcases China's industrial policy priorities. The government's latest economic blueprint for the period until 2030 sets out plans for progress in artificial intelligence and quantum computing, in addition to robotics. China is seeking advances in robotics to mitigate the economic risks of an aging population. Chinese companies accounted for the vast majority of the roughly 13,000 humanoid machines shipped in 2025, according to researcher Omidia.

Humanoid robots race past humans in Beijing half-marathon, showing rapid advances

BEIJING, April 19 (Reuters) - Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, having lagged far behind a year earlier. The race's inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, as many robots struggled to get off the starting line, and most were unable to finish. The champion robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, comfortably ahead of its machine rivals, but more than double the time of the human winner ⁠of the conventional race. The contrast with this year was stark. Not only had the number of robots running increased from 20 to more than 100, but several vying for the podium were noticeably faster than the professional athletes racing in the human race. The robots and humans ran in parallel tracks to avoid collisions. The winning robot, developed by Honor, a well-known Chinese smartphone maker, finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the world record set by Jacob Kiplimo last month ⁠in Lisbon, though the humanoid had to be helped back up just metres from the finish line after crashing into the railing. While economically valuable applications of humanoid robots remain in trial phase, the marathon's showcasing of these machines' physical prowess highlights their potential to reshape everything ⁠from dangerous jobs to combat on the battlefield. China has the goal of becoming a powerhouse in this frontier industry, and it has enacted a wide range of policies from subsidies to ⁠infrastructure projects to cultivate local firms. China's most-watched TV show, the annual CCTV Spring Festival gala, in February showcased the country's push to dominate humanoid robots and the future of ⁠manufacturing. That included a lengthy martial arts demonstration where over a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated fight sequences waving swords, poles and nunchucks in close proximity to human children performers. Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Laurie Chen; Editing by Jamie Freed Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Sports Eduardo Baptista Thomson Reuters Eduardo Baptista is a Senior Correspondent for Reuters based in Beijing, covering China's technology, space, and automotive industries. He has led enterprise and investigative reporting on China's military-linked companies, artificial intelligence and semiconductor supply chains, as well as macroeconomic and industrial policy. Baptista has reported from China for nearly a decade and holds a BA in History from the University of Cambridge. Laurie Chen Thomson Reuters Laurie Chen is a China Correspondent at Reuters' Beijing bureau, covering politics and general news. Before joining Reuters, she reported on China for six years at Agence France-Presse and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. She speaks fluent Mandarin.

Humanoid robot beats human half-marathon world record by 7 minutes at Beijing race with 112 teams

A humanoid robot named Lightning completed the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon today in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record by nearly seven minutes. The robot, built by Shenzhen Honor Smart Technology Development Co., navigated the 21-kilometre course autonomously, without remote control, using multi-sensor fusion and real-time decision-making algorithms. A second Lightning unit, this one remotely controlled, crossed the finish line even faster at 48 minutes and 19 seconds. The human half-marathon world record is 57 minutes and 20 seconds, set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon on 8 March. The robots and the roughly 12,000 human runners followed the same route but competed in separate lanes. The human race was won by Zhao Haijie of China in 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds. The robot race was won by a machine that stands 169 centimetres tall, has an effective leg length of 95 centimetres designed to mimic elite human runners, generates 400 newton-metres of peak torque, and uses a proprietary liquid cooling system with a heat exchange flow rate exceeding four litres per minute, technology borrowed from Honor's smartphone division. This was the second edition of the Robot World Humanoid Robot Games Half-Marathon, co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal People's Government and China Media Group. The first, held on the same date last year, was riddled with mishaps. Only six of 21 robotic runners completed the course. Several stumbled, careened out of control, or simply lay down at the starting line. The winner, a Tiangong Ultra robot, finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds. The 2026 edition was a different event in almost every respect. One hundred and twelve teams from 26 brands entered, fielding more than 300 individual robots, including five international teams from Germany, France, and Brazil. Roughly 40% of the teams competed in the autonomous navigation category, in which robots must navigate the course without human input. Remote-controlled teams had their net times multiplied by a 1.2 coefficient, a 20% penalty designed to encourage autonomous capability. All three podium finishers in the autonomous category were Honor robots, and all three posted times faster than the human world record. The improvement from 2025 to 2026, from six finishers out of 21 to more than 100 teams competing with autonomous navigation, represents the kind of year-over-year progress that makes the event significant beyond spectacle. Lightning still collided with a barricade near the finish line and fell, requiring staff to help it back up before it completed the race. Another robot fell at the start line. But the failures were exceptions rather than the norm, a reversal from last year. Honor, the smartphone manufacturer spun off from Huawei in 2020, is the first major phone company to enter the humanoid robotics market. It unveiled its humanoid robot programme at Mobile World Congress on 1 March and committed $10 billion over five years to AI development. The company says Lightning's running speed of four metres per second is 14% faster than Boston Dynamics' Atlas. The entire development-to-marathon-entry process took one year. Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the winning team, said the competition's value lies in technology transfer: "Looking ahead, some of these technologies might be transferred to other areas. For example, structural reliability and liquid-cooling technology could be applied in future industrial scenarios." The race functions as a forcing function for locomotion, balance, navigation, and endurance, the same capabilities required for factory floors, construction sites, and eventually domestic environments. The marathon is a showcase for an industry that China is building with the kind of coordinated state investment it previously applied to electric vehicles and solar panels. The 15th Five-Year Plan, covering 2026 to 2030, elevates robotics and "embodied intelligence" to one of the country's top ten "new industry tracks." The government has committed a one-trillion-yuan ($138 billion) state-backed fund to humanoid robots, industrial automation, and embodied AI. In February, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled the "Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Standard System," drafted by more than 120 research institutions and manufacturers, with a roadmap to push Chinese standards into ISO and IEC international adoption by 2028. MIIT describes humanoid robots as "the next groundbreaking innovation following computers, smartphones, and new-energy vehicles." The industry is projected to surpass 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in scale by the end of this year. Chinese companies already dominate production. AGIBOT shipped more than 5,000 units in 2025. Unitree Robotics shipped 5,500. UBTech shipped more than 1,000 and plans to reach 5,000 this year and 10,000 in 2027. Chinese firms accounted for nearly 90% of global humanoid robot shipments last year. By comparison, Boston Dynamics, Figure AI, and Agility Robotics each shipped approximately 150 units. The question the marathon raises is whether speed on a road translates into capability in a factory or a home. Western humanoid robot companies, including Tesla with Optimus, Figure AI, and those supplying BMW, have emphasised dexterity and manipulation: picking up objects, assembling components, navigating cluttered indoor environments. Chinese companies have invested heavily in bipedal locomotion and speed, which produces more dramatic demonstrations but addresses a narrower slice of the problem. The global humanoid robot market is projected to reach somewhere between $6.5 billion and $15 billion by 2030, depending on the research firm, with Goldman Sachs estimating $38 billion by 2035. The spread in projections reflects genuine uncertainty about how quickly robots that can run a half marathon will learn to do things that people will pay for. Industrial deployment is advancing: Figure 02 completed an 11-month pilot at a BMW plant, moving more than 90,000 components. But the gap between a controlled factory deployment and the kind of general-purpose humanoid robot that China showcased at its Spring Festival Gala remains wide. Lightning's 50-minute half-marathon is a genuine engineering achievement. A robot that navigates 21 kilometres autonomously, maintains balance at 25 kilometres per hour, manages thermal loads through liquid cooling, and recovers from a collision with a barricade has demonstrated capabilities that did not exist in any humanoid platform a year ago. The question is not whether the technology is impressive. It is whether the country investing $138 billion in it will find applications that justify the spending before the rest of the world catches up on a different approach to the same problem.

'New era': Humanoid robot outruns humans in Beijing half-marathon, beats world record

A humanoid robot on Sunday won a half-marathon for robots in Beijing in 50 minutes 26 seconds, beating the human world record time and showcasing China's technological advances. A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China's technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21-kilometre (13-mile) race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race kicked off. That was faster than the human world record holder, Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward from last year's inaugural race, during which the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds. But the competition, which was held alongside a race for humans, wasn't without hiccups - one robot fell flat at the start line, another bumped into a barrier. Read moreWhy Anthropic's new AI model is too powerful to release Du Xiaodi, Honor's test development engineer, said his team was happy with the results. Du said its robot design was modeled on outstanding human athletes, with long legs of about 95 cm (around 37 inches), and was equipped with what he called a powerful liquid-cooling system, which was largely developed in-house. "Looking ahead, some of these technologies might be transferred to other areas. For example, structural reliability and liquid-cooling technology could be applied in future industrial scenarios," he said. While it will still take time to achieve widespread commercialization of humanoid robots, spectators were already impressed by the robots. Sun Zhigang, who had been in the audience last year, watched Sunday's race with his son. "I feel enormous changes this year," Sun said. "It's the first time robots have surpassed humans, and that's something I never imagined." Wang Wen, who came with his family, said robots seemed to have stolen much of the spotlight from human runners in the event. "The robots' speed far exceeds that of humans," he said. "This may signal the arrival of sort of a new era." Beijing E-Town said about 40% of the robots navigated the course autonomously, while the others were remotely controlled. State media outlet Global Times reported that a separate, remotely-controlled robot from Honor was the first to cross the finish line in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. But it said the winning one used autonomous navigation and received the championship under the event's weighted scoring rules. State broadcaster CCTV reported that the runners-up, which were also from Honor and used autonomous navigation, finished the race in about 51 minutes and 53 minutes respectively. A robot served as a traffic officer to direct the participants with its arm gestures and voice, CCTV added. In China, technology has evolved into an area of competition with the US with national security implications. Beijing's latest five-year plan vows to "target the frontiers of science and technology." Speeding up the development of products like humanoid robots and their applications is part of the 2026-2030 plan for the world's second-largest economy. London-based technology research and advisory group Omdia recently ranked three Chinese companies - AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics and UBTech Robotics Corp. - as the only first-tier vendors in its global assessment for shipment numbers for general-purpose embodied intelligent robots. They all shipped more than 1,000 units of the robots last year, with the first two companies shipping more than 5,000 units, the report said.

Humanoid robots race past humans in Beijing half-marathon, showing rapid advances

BEIJING -- Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous navigation skills as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, highlighting the sector's rapid technical advances. The race's inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, and most robots were unable to finish. Last ⁠year's champion robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race. This year's contrast was stark. Not only had the number of participating teams increased from 20 to more than 100, but several robot frontrunners were noticeably faster than professional athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes. Unlike last year, nearly half of the robot entrants navigated the tougher terrain autonomously instead of being directed by remote ⁠control during the 21-km (13-mile) race. The robots and 12,000 men and women ran in ⁠parallel tracks to avoid collisions. The winning robot, developed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor, finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the half-marathon world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month. Teams from Honor, a ⁠Huawei spin-off, took the three podium spots, all self-navigated and posting world-record-beating times. Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the winning team, said its ⁠robot was in development for a year, 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 phase, but he was confident humanoids would eventually reshape many industries, including manufacturing. "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 viewed the variety of humanoids of different sizes and gaits on display as evidence of China's improvements 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 student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. "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 inspired to pursue a university degree in robotics in the future. Guo said he takes regular classes in robotics theory and programming at his elite Beijing school, and is part of his school's team for the International Olympiad in Informatics, a global programming competition for high schoolers. While economically viable applications of humanoid robots mostly remain in a trial phase, the half-marathon's showcasing of these machines' physical prowess highlights their potential to reshape everything from dangerous jobs to battlefield combat. However, Chinese robotics firms are still struggling to develop the AI software that would enable humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers. Experts said the skills on display during the half-marathon, while entertaining, do not translate ⁠to the widespread commercialisation of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where manual dexterity, real-world perception and capabilities beyond small-scale, repetitive tasks ⁠are crucial. China is seeking to become a global powerhouse in this frontier industry, and it has enacted a wide range of policies from subsidies to infrastructure projects to cultivate local firms. The country'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 lengthy martial arts demonstration where over a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated fight sequences waving swords, poles and nunchucks in close proximity to human children performers.

This Humans vs. Robots Half-Marathon Didn't Go Well... For Humans

BEIJING, April 19 (Reuters) - Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous navigation skills as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, highlighting the sector's rapid technical advances. The race's inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, and most robots were unable to finish. Last year's champion robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race. This year's contrast was stark. Not only had the number of participating teams increased from 20 to more than 100, but several robot frontrunners were noticeably faster than professional athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes. Unlike last year, nearly half of the robot entrants navigated the tougher terrain autonomously instead of being directed by remote control during the 21-km (13-mile) race. The robots and 12,000 men and women ran in parallel tracks to avoid collisions. The winning robot, developed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor, finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the half-marathon world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month. Teams from Honor, a Huawei spin-off, took the three podium spots, all self-navigated and posting world-record-beating times. Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the winning team, said its robot was in development for a year, 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 phase, but he was confident humanoids would eventually reshape many industries, including manufacturing. "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. ROBOTICS IMPROVEMENTS Spectators largely viewed the variety of humanoids of different sizes and gaits on display as evidence of China's improvements 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 student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. "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 inspired to pursue a university degree in robotics in the future. Guo said he takes regular classes in robotics theory and programming at his elite Beijing school, and is part of his school's team for the International Olympiad in Informatics, a global programming competition for high schoolers. ECONOMICALLY VIABLE APPLICATIONS While economically viable applications of humanoid robots mostly remain in a trial phase, the half-marathon's showcasing of these machines' physical prowess highlights their potential to reshape everything from dangerous jobs to battlefield combat. However, Chinese robotics firms are still struggling to develop the AI software that would enable humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers. Experts said the skills on display during the half-marathon, while entertaining, do not translate to the widespread commercialisation of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where manual dexterity, real-world perception and capabilities beyond small-scale, repetitive tasks are crucial. China is seeking to become a global powerhouse in this frontier industry, and it has enacted a wide range of policies from subsidies to infrastructure projects to cultivate local firms. The country'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 lengthy martial arts demonstration where over a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated fight sequences waving swords, poles and nunchucks in close proximity to human children performers.

China humanoid robot half-marathon to showcase technical leaps

More than 300 humanoid robots participating in China's second robot half-marathon on Sunday will be facing tougher terrain designed to test their technical advancements, as Beijing seeks to develop the industry into a major pillar of its economy. Over 70 teams, almost five times as many as last year, will be competing in the 21 km (13 miles) race in Beijing that includes paved slopes and parkland. "It will certainly be interesting to see the progress in durability of components and battery lifetime compared to last year," said Georg Stieler, Asia managing director and head of robotics at Stieler, a technology consultancy. "Humanoid robot makers need to find a balance between quality in products which are still under constant evolution and price pressure." While all of last year's entrants were remotely controlled, this time almost 40% of the robot ⁠participants will ⁠navigate the course autonomously, the organisers have said, in a high-profile demonstration of the industry's growing capabilities. But the event is also likely to highlight the challenges Chinese firms face as they try to create robots that can effectively mimic human movement and performance. In last year's race some robots crashed and fell near the starting line, while the winning Tiangong Ultra model, developed by the state-backed Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics in collaboration with UBTech, finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes, comfortably ahead of its humanoid rivals but more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race. Tiangong Ultra will navigate "fully autonomously" this year, relying solely on its sensors to avoid obstacles, and closely mimic the human gait through large-scale data simulation training, the Center of Humanoid Robotics said in a statement. "When the robot runs at speeds approaching those of professional human athletes, the time window ⁠for perception and decision-making is extremely short, placing very high demands on computing power, algorithms, and system response speed," it said. Social media videos of the robots training in Beijing at night this month showed some models successfully imitating human running and reaching speeds of 14 km per hour, but others' movements were more jerky ⁠and some fell over or crashed into railings, suggesting they might struggle to make it to the finishing line. China dominates global humanoid robot installations, accounting for more than 80% of the 16,000 units installed worldwide in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The top US vendor, Tesla, only accounted for 5% of global humanoid installations, the report said. Domestic market leaders AgiBot and Unitree each shipped more than 5,000 units last year - the highest globally - while Unitree has pledged to expand production capacity to 75,000 humanoid robots annually. 'Dancing disguised as working' While the half-marathon might make for entertaining viewing, experts say the skills on display do not translate to the widespread commercialisation of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where manual dexterity, real-world perception and capabilities beyond small-scale, repetitive tasks are crucial. Currently, Unitree's humanoid models are primarily used by research institutions, for dance performances and as interactive guides in service establishments, according to its IPO prospectus. And while some humanoids might be able to complete a half-marathon, even in China they remain years away from widespread domestic or industrial deployment, experts say. "The reason our applications aren't taking off is that the robots' IQ is too low. The models are poor, their success rates are low," said Tang Wenbin, founder of embodied intelligence startup Yuanli Lingji at a Beijing tech forum last month. "Honestly, the whole industry's level is ⁠still at a very elementary stage ... Right now, a lot of what we see is 'dancing disguised as working'." The Chinese government has named embodied intelligence, or physical AI, as one of the key industries it wants to nurture as it looks to automation to boost economic productivity and upgrade traditional manufacturing. Chinese robotics firms are still struggling to develop the AI software that would enable humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers, while components manufacturers are contending with cost pressures, analysts said. As they seek to improve the software, firms are ploughing resources into large-scale real-world data collection, using human workers fitted with sensors and deploying more humanoids to factory floors. In 2024, UBTech had fewer than 10 humanoids in factories. Last year, that number jumped to more than 1,000. This year, it aims to launch 10,000 full-size humanoid robots, including new models tailored for a variety of commercial settings, Chief Business Officer Michael Tam said during a media tour to the company's Shenzhen showroom in southern China. "When we talk about AI, it relies on how much data, especially high-quality data, we can collect," he said.

Humanoid robots crush humans during half-marathon -- and set the world record

Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous navigation skills as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, highlighting the sector's rapid technical advances. The race's inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, and most robots were unable to finish. Last year's champion robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race. This year's contrast was stark. Not only had the number of participating teams increased from 20 to more than 100, but several robot frontrunners were noticeably faster than professional athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes. Unlike last year, nearly half of the robot entrants navigated the tougher terrain autonomously instead of being directed by remote control during the 13-mile race. The robots and 12,000 men and women ran in parallel tracks to avoid collisions. The winning ⁠robot, developed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor, finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the half-marathon world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month. Teams from Honor, a Huawei spin-off, took the three podium spots, all self-navigated and posting world-record-beating times. Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the winning team, said its robot was in development for a year, 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 phase, but he was confident humanoids would eventually reshape many industries, including manufacturing. "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 viewed the variety of humanoids of different sizes and gaits on display as evidence of China's improvements 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 student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. "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 inspired to pursue a university degree in robotics in the future. Guo said he takes regular classes in robotics theory and programming at his elite Beijing school, and is ⁠part of his school's team for the International Olympiad in Informatics, a global programming competition for high schoolers. While economically viable applications of humanoid robots mostly remain in a trial phase, the half-marathon's showcasing of these machines' physical prowess highlights their potential to reshape everything from dangerous jobs to battlefield combat. However, Chinese robotics firms are still struggling to develop the AI software that would enable ⁠humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers. Experts said the skills on display during the half-marathon, while entertaining, do not translate to the widespread commercialization of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where manual dexterity, real-world perception, and capabilities beyond small-scale, repetitive tasks are crucial. China is seeking to become a global powerhouse in this frontier industry, and it has ⁠enacted a wide range of policies from subsidies to infrastructure projects to cultivate local firms. The country'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 lengthy martial arts demonstration where over a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated fight sequences waving swords, poles and nunchucks in close proximity to human children performers.

Robots race past humans in Beijing half-marathon | BreakingNews

Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous navigation skills as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, highlighting the sector's rapid technical advances. The race's inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, and most robots were unable to finish. Last year's champion robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race. This year's contrast was stark. Not only had the number of participating teams increased from 20 to more than 100, but several robot frontrunners were noticeably faster than professional athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes. Unlike last year, nearly half of the robot entrants navigated the tougher terrain autonomously instead of being directed by remote control during the 21-km (13-mile) race. The robots and 12,000 men and women ran in parallel tracks to avoid collisions. The winning robot, developed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor, finished the race ⁠in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the half-marathon world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month. Teams from Honor, a Huawei spin-off, took the three podium spots, all self-navigated and posting world-record-beating times. Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the winning team, said its robot was in development for a year, 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 phase, but he was confident humanoids would eventually reshape many industries, including manufacturing. "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 viewed the variety of humanoids of different sizes and gaits on display as evidence of China's improvements 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 student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. "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 inspired to pursue a university degree in robotics in the future. Guo said he takes regular classes in robotics theory and programming at his elite Beijing school, and is part of his school's team for the International Olympiad in Informatics, a global programming competition for high schoolers. While economically viable applications of humanoid robots mostly remain in a trial phase, the half-marathon's showcasing of these machines' physical prowess highlights their potential to reshape everything from dangerous jobs to battlefield combat. However, ⁠Chinese robotics firms are still struggling to develop the AI software that would enable humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers. Experts said the skills on display during the half-marathon, while entertaining, do not translate to the widespread commercialisation of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where manual dexterity, real-world perception and capabilities beyond small-scale, repetitive tasks are crucial. China is seeking to become a global powerhouse in this frontier industry, and it has enacted a wide range of policies from subsidies to infrastructure projects to cultivate local firms. The country'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 lengthy martial arts demonstration where over a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated fight sequences waving swords, poles and nunchucks in close proximity to human children performers.

Humanoid robots race past humans in Beijing half-marathon, showing rapid advances - VnExpress International

Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous navigation skills as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday. The race's inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, and most robots were unable to finish. Last year's champion robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race. This year's contrast was stark. Not only had the number of participating teams increased from 20 to more than 100, but several robot frontrunners were noticeably faster than professional athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes. Unlike last year, nearly half of the robot entrants navigated the tougher terrain autonomously instead of being directed by remote control during the 21-km (13-mile) race. The robots and 12,000 men and women ran in parallel tracks to avoid collisions. The winning ⁠robot, developed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor, finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the half-marathon world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month. Teams from Honor, a Huawei spin-off, took the three podium spots, all self-navigated and posting world-record-beating times. Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the winning team, said its robot was in development for a year, 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 phase, but he was confident humanoids would eventually reshape many industries, including manufacturing. "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. Robotics improvements Spectators largely viewed the variety of humanoids of different sizes and gaits on display as evidence of China's improvements 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 student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. "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 inspired to pursue a university degree in robotics in the future. Guo said he takes regular classes in robotics theory and programming at his elite Beijing school, and is ⁠part of his school's team for the International Olympiad in Informatics, a global programming competition for high schoolers. Economically viable applications While economically viable applications of humanoid robots mostly remain in a trial phase, the half-marathon's showcasing of these machines' physical prowess highlights their potential to reshape everything from dangerous jobs to battlefield combat. However, Chinese robotics firms are still struggling to develop the AI software that would enable ⁠humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers. Experts said the skills on display during the half-marathon, while entertaining, do not translate to the widespread commercialisation of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where manual dexterity, real-world perception and capabilities beyond small-scale, repetitive tasks are crucial. China is seeking to become a global powerhouse in this frontier industry, and it has ⁠enacted a wide range of policies from subsidies to infrastructure projects to cultivate local firms. The country'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 lengthy martial arts demonstration where over a dozen Unitree humanoids performed sophisticated fight sequences waving swords, poles and nunchucks in close proximity to human children performers.

China humanoid robot half-marathon to showcase technical leaps

BEIJING, April 18 (Reuters) - More than 300 humanoid robots participating in China's second robot half-marathon on Sunday will be facing tougher terrain designed to test their technical advancements, as Beijing seeks to develop the industry into a major pillar of its economy. Over 70 teams, almost five times as many as last year, will be competing in the 21 km (13 miles) race in Beijing that includes paved slopes and parkland. "It will certainly be interesting to see the progress in durability of components and battery lifetime compared to last year," said Georg Stieler, Asia managing director and head of robotics at Stieler, a technology consultancy. "Humanoid robot makers need to find a balance between quality in products which are still under constant evolution and price pressure." While all of last year's entrants were remotely controlled, this time almost 40% of the robot participants will navigate the course autonomously, the organisers have said, in a high-profile demonstration of the industry's growing capabilities. But the event is also likely to highlight the challenges Chinese firms face as they try to create robots that can effectively mimic human movement and performance. In last year's race some robots crashed and fell near the starting line, while the winning Tiangong Ultra model, developed by the state-backed Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics in collaboration with UBTech, finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes, comfortably ahead of its humanoid rivals but more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race. Tiangong Ultra will navigate "fully autonomously" this year, relying solely on its sensors to avoid obstacles, and closely mimic the human gait through large-scale data simulation training, the Center of Humanoid Robotics said in a statement. "When the robot runs at speeds approaching those of professional human athletes, the time window for perception and decision-making is extremely short, placing very high demands on computing power, algorithms, and system response speed," it said. Social media videos of the robots training in Beijing at night this month showed some models successfully imitating human running and reaching speeds of 14 km per hour, but others' movements were more jerky and some fell over or crashed into railings, suggesting they might struggle to make it to the finishing line. China dominates global humanoid robot installations, accounting for more than 80% of the 16,000 units installed worldwide in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The top U.S. vendor, Tesla, only accounted for 5% of global humanoid installations, the report said. Domestic market leaders AgiBot and Unitree each shipped more than 5,000 units last year - the highest globally - while Unitree has pledged to expand production capacity to 75,000 humanoid robots annually. 'DANCING DISGUISED AS WORKING' While the half-marathon might make for entertaining viewing, experts say the skills on display do not translate to the widespread commercialisation of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where manual dexterity, real-world perception and capabilities beyond small-scale, repetitive tasks are crucial. Currently, Unitree's humanoid models are primarily used by research institutions, for dance performances and as interactive guides in service establishments, according to its IPO prospectus. And while some humanoids might be able to complete a half-marathon, even in China they remain years away from widespread domestic or industrial deployment, experts say. "The reason our applications aren't taking off is that the robots' IQ is too low. The models are poor, their success rates are low," said Tang Wenbin, founder of embodied intelligence startup Yuanli Lingji at a Beijing tech forum last month. "Honestly, the whole industry's level is still at a very elementary stage ... Right now, a lot of what we see is 'dancing disguised as working'." The Chinese government has named embodied intelligence, or physical AI, as one of the key industries it wants to nurture as it looks to automation to boost economic productivity and upgrade traditional manufacturing. Chinese robotics firms are still struggling to develop the AI software that would enable humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers, while components manufacturers are contending with cost pressures, analysts said. As they seek to improve the software, firms are ploughing resources into large-scale real-world data collection, using human workers fitted with sensors and deploying more humanoids to factory floors. In 2024, UBTech had fewer than 10 humanoids in factories. Last year, that number jumped to more than 1,000. This year, it aims to launch 10,000 full-size humanoid robots, including new models tailored for a variety of commercial settings, Chief Business Officer Michael Tam said during a media tour to the company's Shenzhen showroom in southern China. "When we talk about AI, it relies on how much data, especially high-quality data, we can collect," he said. (Reporting by Laurie Chen; Additional reporting by David Kirton in Shenzhen; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Kate Mayberry)