The winner of a robot half-marathon in Beijing on Sunday beat the human world record by more than six minutes, underlining the rapid pace of development in humanoid robotics.
The humanoid robot, named Lightning, was developed by Chinese smartphone and gadget maker Honor, which entered the sector only last year.
The robot clocked a finishing time of 50 minutes 26 seconds
This was well ahead of the men’s world record of 57:20 held by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo
It was also about 17 minutes faster than the fastest human runner in Sunday’s race
Organisers said the event drew 105 robot competitors, up from just 21 last year. Teams were allowed to enter the same robot model using different hardware and control algorithms.
The top three finishers were all Lightning models run by different teams
Nearly 40 percent of the robots were fully autonomous, including the top three
The winning robot stood 169 cm tall and weighed around 45 kg, designed to handle complex terrain at high speed.
Despite the strong performance, several robots struggled during the race:
One robot collided with a vehicle but recovered and continued
A Unitree H1 model collapsed near the finish and had to be removed
Even a Lightning unit hit a barrier after crossing the finish line
The event, held alongside the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon, saw robots compete alongside about 12,000 human runners over a 21 km route in Daxing district.
Experts say such races serve as real-world testing platforms for:
Battery endurance
Motor and joint durability
Software and navigation systems
Long-distance running helps evaluate how robotic systems perform under sustained, repetitive motion — a key requirement for industrial applications.
China continues to dominate the global humanoid robotics market, accounting for around 80 percent of the sector last year, according to Counterpoint.
The government has identified humanoid robots as a key growth driver alongside artificial intelligence.
In a separate event on Saturday, Beijing hosted the Robot Warrior Challenge, where machines navigated obstacles such as narrow bridges, gaps and steep slopes. The winner was the Tien Kung 3.0 developed by X-Humanoid.
