Beijing's humanoid robot half-marathon concluded its second successful year, demonstrating significant progress compared to its inaugural event. This year's competition, which pitted over 100 humanoid robots from Chinese manufacturers against each other across a 13-mile (approximately 21 km) course, unfolded much more smoothly.
Honor, a company primarily known for its smartphones, made a strong showing, with its red-clad robot named "Lightning" securing first place. "Lightning" lived up to its name by finishing the race in an impressive 50 minutes and 26 seconds. This time is remarkably several minutes faster than the recent human record set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo last month. Notably, according to state-sponsored television news agency CCTV, Honor swept all podium spots, with the crucial caveat that all their winning robots navigated the entire course autonomously. This represents a massive technological leap.
This year's performance marks a substantial improvement over the previous year, where the fastest time among 21 robots was achieved by Tiangong Ultra with a record of two hours and 40 minutes. The inaugural event was characterized by many bipedal robots requiring assistance from human operators running alongside them, along with several comical mishaps, including robots falling at the starting line.
However, despite the rapid advancements, the BBC reported that only around 40 percent of the robots competed autonomously this year, with the remaining units being remote-controlled. The event also saw its share of crashes, even among some of Honor's robots, indicating ongoing challenges in achieving robust autonomous navigation for all competitors.