Speedy humanoid robots in China have beaten humans by seven minutes in the Beijing Robot Half Marathon, even beating the world record set last month.
Over 1200 people and 100 robots took part in the marathon. Tracks were separated by a barrier to prevent the collision.
Many people expected a 2025-like situation where robots tripped, shuffled and smashed to pieces; however, the humanoids surprised everyone with their Bolt-like running speed.
A robot developed by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor won the race after completing a 21 kilometer course in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds. It also broke the record of Ugandan runner Jacob Kipilmo, who ran the equivalent distance in 57 minutes and 20 seconds.
Last year, the fastest robot ran the same distance in two hours and 40 minutes. This highlights the technological advances in the Chinese robotics industry achieved in just a single year.
Another interesting aspect of this year’s half marathon was that robots ran autonomously and navigated through the course without human intervention.
Honor’s robots secured all three places on the podium, and all three winning robots completed the distance faster than the fastest humans ever covered.
Not all humanoids advanced, as several suffered major failures, such as one tripping and collapsing, another facing navigational errors, and many crashing into the barrier.
An engineer from the winning team said Honor built the winning robot, called Lightning, last year, adding that it has 90-95cm of extra length in its legs that helps it mimic the build of human elite runners.
The Lightning is equipped with liquid cooling technology that helps it manage the heat generated by the movement of its leg motors.
