Robots ran alongside humans in Beijing half marathon, setting a world record

More than a hundred Chinese-made humanoid robots ran alongside 12 000 men and women in a half marathon in Beijing on April 19.

Reuters writes about this.

The first attempt at such a race last year was fraught with failure, with most of the robots failing to finish. Last yearʼs champion robot clocked 2 hours and 40 minutes, more than double the best human time.

This year’s competition was a stark contrast. The number of participating robots grew from 20 to over 100, and several leading robots were noticeably faster than the professional athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes. Also, unlike last year, almost half of the robots navigated the more challenging terrain autonomously — without the remote control of human operators.

The winning robot, developed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor (part of Huawei), finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds — 6 minutes and 12 seconds faster than the world half marathon record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March. Honor’s robots took three places on the podium. All of them were autonomous and set world records.

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