The robot set a world record in the half marathon - ForkLog: cryptocurrencies, AI, singularity, the future

# The robot set a world record in the half marathon

Humanoid robot from Honor ran the half marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds — six minutes faster than the men’s world record.

Humanoid robots hit the ground running in the Beijing E-Town humanoid robot half-marathon on Sunday, competing in both autonomous navigation and remote-controlled categories. #marathon #Beijing #HumanoidRobot pic.twitter.com/dxacB1BzH2

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) April 19, 2026

The second annual 21 km race in Beijing among bots running alongside humans demonstrated rapid progress in artificial intelligence. It allowed machines to acquire the physical skills and agility needed to perform a range of tasks.

In the first race a year ago, the bots looked funny. One fell at the start, another fell apart. The vast majority of machines couldn’t complete the entire distance, and the fastest android finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes.

🇨🇳 Today, the first robot half marathon in history was held in Beijing, China. 😏

The winner was Tiangong Ultra, from UB Tech, with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. 😏 pic.twitter.com/lmbuQv3pC0

— Javier 🇺🇾 (@javierellob0) April 21, 2025

The race held on April 19, 2026, showed significant progress, noted analyst Din Wang and his colleagues from Bernstein Research.

While most bots were remotely controlled in the past, this time 40% ran autonomously.

“The course included flat sections, climbs, narrow passages, and about 20 turns. The competition demonstrates rapid improvement in robot intelligence, enabling them to handle various real-world conditions,” — experts wrote.

The race winner was controlled remotely. It fell a few meters from the finish line. The team of humans had to urgently lift the bot.

This Chinese humanoid robot just shattered the world record for a half marathon, finishing in 50 min 26 sec.

This video shows its crash just meters before the finish line where it had to be picked up by a team of humans. The robot is from Honor, the smartphone maker and Huawei… pic.twitter.com/HflDC0rInX

— Kyle Chan (@kyleichan) April 19, 2026

Other robots also faced problems — some stumbled at the start line, others experienced mechanical failures.

More than 100 teams entered 300 machines in the race. Special attention was drawn to Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor, which shifted its focus to robotics after separating from Huawei in 2020. Androids from this Shenzhen-based company took all three prize places.

Last year, the winner was Tiangong Ultra, a robot from the Beijing X-Humanoid research institute. Bernstein analysts emphasized that competition among developers in the country is intensifying. They benefit from a developed supply chain, lower component prices, and rapid advances in balance, gait, and energy efficiency.

The race demonstrates China’s industrial policy priorities. The latest government economic plan until 2030 outlines development plans in artificial intelligence and quantum computing, in addition to robotics.

China aims to make progress in developing bots to mitigate economic risks associated with an aging population.

Recall that in December 2025, appliance manufacturer Midea Group developed the six-armed industrial robot MIRO U.