A humanoid robot has shattered the human half-marathon world record, marking a significant milestone for robotics. Developed by Chinese company Honor, the robot completed the 21-kilometer race in Beijing in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. This time surpasses the human record of approximately 57 minutes.
Honor engineer Du Xiaodi stated the robot's design was inspired by elite athletes, featuring long legs and an advanced liquid-cooling system.
The Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon saw over 100 robots participate alongside 12,000 human runners on parallel tracks.
While some robots faced technical challenges like collisions and overheating, performance improved significantly from the previous year. Approximately 40% of the robots operated autonomously.
Honor’s autonomous robot secured overall victory, with two other Honor autonomous models completing the podium. The company indicated that technologies developed for the race could be applied to industrial scenarios.