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It looks like humanoid robots have a long way to go before catching up with human runners.<\/p>\n
Beijing\u2019s E-Town tech hub hosted what it described as the first world\u2019s first humanoid half-marathon on Saturday, with 21 humanoid robots competing alongside thousands of humans.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg reports<\/a> that the winning robot, Tiangong Ultra, was built by the government-backed research institute X-Humanoid and finished the race in two hours and 40 minutes. This would not be an impressive time for a human \u2014 the race\u2019s winning male runner finished in one hour and two minutes, and it\u2019s normal for casual runners to complete a half-marathon in (brag alert) under two hours<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tiangong Ultra needed human assistance to win \u2014 specifically a human who ran ahead with a signaling device on his back, enabling the robot to imitate his movements. (Most other robots were remote controlled, with human operators running beside them.)<\/p>\n Every other robot needed at least three hours to complete the race, and only four robots in total managed to finish ahead of the four-hour cutoff time, according to Bloomberg<\/a>. Some robots barely made it past the starting line \u2014 for example, Shennong tripped a human support runner<\/a>, then slammed into a fence and shattered. At one point, Little Giant (the shortest competitor, at 30 inches in height), paused as smoke emerged from its head.<\/p>\n The Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half Marathon\u00a0featured robots built by Chinese companies, as well as student groups. (Unitree\u2019s G1 robot fell at the starting line, but the company said a client had used the robot without its algorithms.)<\/p>\n In order to compete, robots needed to have a humanoid appearance and run on two legs. They ran in a separate, fenced-off lane from the humans, with staggered start times to reduce the risk that they\u2019d run into each other. Battery changes were allowed (Tiangong Ultra\u2019s battery was changed three times), and substitute robots could even be swapped in with a time penalty.<\/p>\n X-Humanoid\u2019s Chief Technology Officer Tang Jiang told Reuters<\/a>, \u201c\u201dI don\u2019t want to boast but I think no other robotics firms in the West have matched Tiangong\u2019s sporting achievements.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n