Humanoid robots participate in Beijing half-marathon

More than 100 robots participated in a half-marathon held in the Beijing E-Town area on Sunday, marking a significant increase from 20 participants last year. The event featured parallel tracks for robots and human athletes to prevent collisions. An autonomous robot developed by Honor won the event with a time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds, though it required assistance to stand up after hitting a railing near the finish line. Another remotely controlled unit from the same company reportedly finished in 48 minutes and 19 seconds but was disqualified for failing to meet autonomy criteria. These performances were compared to the human world record of 57 minutes and 31 seconds set by Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon. In contrast to the previous year, where most robots struggled to start or finish and the winner took 2 hours and 40 minutes, this year's participants showed notable technical improvement.