Robots Race Against Humans In Beijing Half-Marathon

Wired reports:

On Saturday, about 12,000 human athletes ran in a half marathon race in Beijing, but most of the attention was on a group of other, unconventional participants: 21 humanoid robots.

The event’s organizers, which included several branches of Beijing’s municipal government, claim it’s the first time humans and bipedal robots have run in the same race, though they jogged on separate tracks. Six of the robots successfully finished the course, but they were unable to keep up with the speed of the humans.

The fastest robot, Tiangong Ultra, developed by Chinese robotics company UBTech in collaboration with the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, finished the race in two hours and 40 minutes after assistants changed its batteries three times and it fell down once.

Read the full article. Hit the link for a deep dive into the technology.

Humanoid robots raced against humans for the first time in a half-marathon in Beijing. One of the robots fell over at the starting line. Another crashed into a railing after running a short distance, causing its human operator to fall over https://t.co/xG960UMCyu pic.twitter.com/iOX9xLtOVi

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 19, 2025

Only four of the 21 robots in the race crossed the finish line, highlighting just how far humanoids are from keeping up with their real human counterparts. https://t.co/qps4TWlddQ

— WIRED (@WIRED) April 19, 2025