Beijing’s second annual humanoid robot half-marathon delivered a stark contrast to its disastrous inaugural event. This year’s race, spanning 13 miles, showcased significant advancements in robotics performance and autonomy.
The competition featured over 100 robots, with Honor—a smartphone manufacturer—dominating the podium. Its red-clad robot, Lightning, claimed first place by finishing the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. This time is several minutes faster than the human half-marathon world record set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo the previous month.
Honor secured all top three positions, though CCTV noted that all competing robots operated autonomously. This marks a major leap from last year’s event, where the fastest time was just two hours and 40 minutes—achieved by Tiangong Ultra. The 2023 edition was plagued by issues, including robots requiring human assistance and frequent falls, such as one at the starting line.
According to the BBC, only 40% of this year’s robots competed autonomously, while the remainder were remote-controlled. Despite these advancements, crashes still occurred, including incidents involving Honor’s robots.
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