We’ve Got to Hang Our Hats on Something

[If I die after being chased down by a super-fast, super-ridiculous robot, at least I’ll have had a good laugh at its expense.]
Last April, shared news from Beijing’s robot half-marathon, which I charitably called “not a resounding success” for the machines. Out of 21 entrants, only 6 managed to finish, and that was with a lot of assistance. It also took 2 hours and 40 minutes, quite a slow pace.

Just one year later, the results are markedly different. More than 100 robots entered, and several of them from Chinese smartphone maker Honor ran the race at a faster-than-human pace. The men’s world record is currently 57:20, and it’s not likely to drop by much more. For the robots, the autonomous winner finished in 50:26, while a remote-controlled robot managed 48:19.

All is not lost, however. Here’s a look at just two of the robots during the race:

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[Full video source]

We may be slower, but humans clearly still hold an edge in the all important category of “not looking ridiculous while running”.

Link: https://www.npr.org/2026/04/20/g-s1-118086/humanoid-robot-half-marathon