Humanoid Robot Wins Half Marathon in China, Beating Human World Record

A humanoid robot made past successful Beijing by winning a half-marathon. Credit: AMNA

A humanoid robot completed a half-marathon successful Beijing connected Sunday faster than immoderate quality ever has, marking a milestone for China’s robotics industry.

The robot, named Lightning and made by Chinese smartphone institution Honor, finished the 21-kilometer (13.1-mile) people successful 50 minutes and 26 seconds. The clip surpassed the quality satellite grounds of 57 minutes and 20 seconds, acceptable by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo successful Lisbon past month.

Honor, a Huawei spin-off, claimed each 3 apical positions successful the robot category. All 3 finished autonomously, without distant control, and each posted a clip faster than the quality satellite record.

The engineering down Lightning’s record-breaking run

Du Xiaodi, an Honor technologist connected the winning team, said the robot took a twelvemonth to develop. Its legs, betwixt 90 and 95 centimeters (35 and 37 inches) long, were designed to replicate the stride of elite runners. Liquid cooling technology from the company’s smartphone part was besides built into managing vigor during the run.

Du acknowledged the assemblage is inactive developing, but said show gains successful velocity and endurance tin thrust utile advances successful manufacturing applications.

Humanoid robot 'Lightning' has smashed the half-marathon satellite grounds successful Beijing with a clip of 50 minutes, 26 seconds

That’s astir 7 minutes faster than the quality satellite grounds pic.twitter.com/O8poj10Z47

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) April 19, 2026

The betterment from past twelvemonth was significant. Last year’s inaugural humanoid half-marathon was marked by predominant failures, with astir robots incapable to finish. The apical robot that twelvemonth crossed the enactment successful 2 hours and 40 minutes.

This year, much than 100 teams entered, astir 5 times past year’s total, and respective robots finished up of the nonrecreational human athletes. The men’s and women’s class winners among quality runners each finished successful much than an hour.

Nearly fractional the robot entrants navigated the people connected their own. Robots and the 12,000 quality participants ran connected abstracted tracks.

China’s humanoid robot propulsion extends acold past the half-marathon

Sun Zhigang, who attended some races, said helium ne'er expected robots to outrun humans. Wang Wen said the time felt similar the commencement of a new epoch successful robotics.

Engineering pupil Chu Tianqi, 23, said the robots’ signifier was singular fixed however precocious the exertion has developed. Guo Yukun, an 11-year-old student, said the contention inspired him to prosecute robotics studies astatine university.

China has invested heavy successful the sector. The authorities listed robotics arsenic a nationalist precedence successful 2015 and successful 2023 described humanoid robots arsenic a caller frontier successful technological competition. Officials acceptable a 2025 people for wide accumulation of cardinal components, carried into the country’s latest five-year plan.

Experts caution that moving show does not construe straight to mill use. Industrial enactment requires dexterity, perception, and the quality to grip varied tasks. Chinese firms are inactive moving to make the bundle needed for humanoids to lucifer quality workers successful manufacturing.