Honor humanoid robot wins Beijing robot half-marathon, surpassing human world record
In Beijing on Sunday, a humanoid runner built by Honor, the smartphone maker, set a striking pace in a race for machines alongside a human half-marathon. The robot finished 21 kilometers (13 miles) in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, a time that eclipsed the human world record set earlier this year by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who crossed the same distance in roughly 57 minutes in Lisbon.
A leap forward from last year
The winning robot’s performance marks a sharp advance from the inaugural event, where the victor posted about 2 hours and 40 minutes. This year’s race unfolded under mixed conditions, with hiccups including a robot that collapsed at the starting line and another that collided with a barrier during the course.
Design and takeaways from the engineers
Du Xiaodi, a test-stand developer at Honor, explained that the robot’s build draws inspiration from elite human athletes. The machine features long limbs—around 95 cm (roughly 37 inches)—and is cooled by a robust liquid-cooling system developed largely in-house. Du noted that the technology could eventually cross over to other sectors, with potential gains in structural reliability and cooling for industrial applications.
Early enthusiasm and spectator sentiment
Spectators were impressed by the robots’ performance. Sun Zhigang, who attended with his son, said the event demonstrated “enormous changes” and called robots’ surpassing of human speed a milestone he hadn’t imagined. Another attendee, Wang Wen, felt robots were stealing the spotlight from human runners and saw the moment as a possible dawn of a new era.
Autonomy, remote control, and race logistics
Beijing E-Town reported that roughly 40% of the competing robots navigated the course autonomously, while the rest were remotely steered. State media noted that a separate Honor robot—controlled from afar—completed the course in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. The winner, however, relied on autonomous navigation and was declared the champion under the event’s weighted scoring rules. Runners-up, also from Honor and using autonomous navigation, finished in about 51 minutes 53 seconds and 53 minutes, respectively. A robot also acted as a traffic officer, directing participants through arm gestures and voice commands, according to CCTV.
China’s tech race with the United States and strategic planning
The race sits within China’s broader push to lead in technology, a theme echoed in the nation’s five-year plan, which prioritizes frontier science and technology. The 2026–2030 plan emphasizes accelerating the development and application of humanoid robotics and related systems.
Industry outlook and market players
A London-based research firm, Omdia, recently highlighted three Chinese companies—AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics, and UBTech Robotics Corp.—as the only first-tier vendors in its global shipment rankings for general-purpose embodied intelligent robots. The report noted each shipped more than 1,000 units last year, with AGIBOT and Unitree surpassing 5,000 units.
Note
This summary draws from Associated Press reporting on the Beijing event, with contributions from AP video producer Liu Zheng.