A Race Like No Other

On a thrilling Saturday in Beijing, 12,000 human athletes hit the pavement for a half marathon, but the spotlight shone brightly on an eclectic group of 21 humanoid robots. This unprecedented event, claimed to be the first of its kind with both humans and bipedal robots running together, saw the robots navigating separate tracks—but the outcome was quite different.

A Struggle to Finish

Out of the 21 robot contenders, only six astonishingly completed the race, far from matching the human speedsters. The fastest robot, Tiangong Ultra, engineered by UBTech and the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, crossed the finish line at a modest 2 hours and 40 minutes after three battery swaps and a tumble along the way. In contrast, the human runners had to clock in under 3 hours and 10 minutes—an elite challenge even for the robots.

Shattering Expectations