BEIJING – The crowds gasped as the racing robots malfunctioned at various points during the 21km race – tripping over road kerbs, stopping and abruptly changing directions, even running into barricades. 

But the April 19 Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon in Beijing saw its winner clocking 21km in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

In fact, with the third-place droid striding past the finish line in about 53 minutes, all three podium finishers – 169cm-tall models code named Lightning, by Chinese consumer tech firm Honor – easily surpassed the world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds set by Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo in March.

Asked for the secret to their success, Mr Du Xiaodi, an engineer from Honor’s winning team, attributed it to the humanoid robots’ long legs, which measure 95cm each, and their liquid cooling system.

The Sunday morning race tested robots’ ability to navigate winding roads, avoid obstacles and fellow competitors, and move up and downhill. It also assesses their durability and battery life. Robots were allowed battery changes at designated stations.

About 40 per cent of the robots raced autonomously, and the rest were remotely controlled.

Thousands of spectators lined the streets of Yizhuang tech district, which was a cool 10 deg C in spring, with many remarking at the speed of the robots as they powered past the human runners, who were also running 21km in an adjacent course.

This was the second edition of the event, held in south-east Beijing. Some 105 teams – five times as many as in 2025 – took part, including defending champion Tiangong by X-Humanoid and the H1 by top humanoid robot maker Unitree.

China is keen to showcase its advances both as a...