Humanoid robots struggle in first humans vs. robots half-marathon in China

What just happened? It appears that one thing humanoid robots still can't do better than their human counterparts is long-distance running. This fact was illustrated during a half-marathon in Beijing, China, over the weekend, when most of the competing robots fell over, fell apart, or failed to finsih.

The world's first humans vs. robot half-marathon in China saw 21 humanoid machines running alongside their operators in the 13-mile race, in which more than 12,000 people took part – the robots and human competitors ran in separate lanes.

The humanoid robot half-marathon in Beijing just started! pic.twitter.com/8vr2nXQwuR

China had positioned the event as a way of showing off its advancements in the area of robotics, but it wasn't exactly a resounding success in that department. Bloomberg reports that one of the robots fell at the starting line. Another's head fell off and rolled around on the floor. And one collapsed and broke into pieces.

Perhaps the most telling statistic is that out of the 21 robots that took part in the race, only four managed to complete the full 13 miles. The fastest robot, a five-foot-ten-inch machine called Tiangong Ultra, crossed the finish line in two hours and 40 minutes, while the three other bots who finished took more than three hours. For comparison, the human winner finished the race in one hour, 2 minutes, and 36 seconds.

Despite being the fastest among the robot runners, Tiangong Ultra still fell once and required three battery changes during the race. The robot was built specifically for the event by X-Humanoid, a government-backed research institute that also has funding from Xiaomi's robotics arm and UBTech Robotics.

"I'm very happy with the results, and everything met my expectations," said Tang Jian, X-Humanoid's Chief Technology Officer. "This has been an extreme test of the robots' resilience and stability. Our hope is that, whatever tasks robots perform in the future, they will be capable of operating around the clock, 24/7."

Tang said Tiangong Ultra's long legs and imitation algorithm aided its performance in the race.

Tiangong had a human instructor wearing a signaling device on his lower back running ahead of it so the robot could mimic his moves. Other robots were controlled with joysticks by operators who ran alongside them, and some had leashes.

The robots varied wildly in appearance. The shortest, the 30-inch Little Giant, was designed to run only three miles as it's too slow. One had an unsettling female mannequin-like head that could smile and wink, while another had a Gundam-style design – they both crashed and failed to finish the race.

Several cities in China are pouring more money into researching, developing, and promoting humanoid robots, with the industry predicted to grow to $54.6 billion by 2030.

In November 2024, a robot built by the South Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) became the first quadrupedal robot to complete a full marathon. Bearing a strong resemblance to Boston Dynamics' Spot, RAIBO2 finished the 26.2-mile run in four hours, 19 minutes, and 52 seconds.