Beijing Half-Marathon: Humans Surpass Robots in Thrilling Race

In Beijing’s Yizhuang half-marathon, a historic competition was held, with humanoid robots taking on human competitors for the first time. Unfortunately, the robots struggled to keep up, with some collapsing shortly after the race began and others crashing into barriers. The few machines that managed to finish the race significantly trailed behind the human runners. For instance, Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Innovation Centre of Human Robotics, completed the race in 2 hours and 40 minutes, far behind the male winner who finished over an hour earlier. While robotics professor Alan Fern considered the event as interesting demonstrations, they did not showcase much in terms of practical usefulness or intelligence. Nevertheless, local AI engineer He Sishu felt that he was witnessing the evolution of robots and AI. The robots required constant support from teams of engineers to function, highlighting that they were not autonomous athletes. The event featured bots of various shapes and sizes, with some even wearing boxing gloves and headbands. The Chief Technology Officer at Tiangong’s lab, Tang Jian, stated that they plan to focus on industrial applications in the future for these robots, allowing them to enter factories, business scenarios, and households.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/4/19/humans-outrun-robots-at-beijing-half-marathon?traffic_source=rss