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China's robot half-marathon broke an important record — and made for plenty of laughs
Lintao Zhang/Getty ImagesChina's humanoid robot half-marathon produced a record-breaking run.Still, falls and mishaps during the race drew attention and laughs.A robot was carried off on a stretcher, while another had engineers in pursuit.China once again staged a half-marathon for humanoid robots. It delivered a record — and plenty of chaos.A robot from Chinese smartphone and gadget maker Honor clocked 50 minutes and 26 seconds at the event in Beijing on Sunday, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.That time beats the current. human half-marathon world record set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who finished in 57 minutes and 20 seconds last month.Honor's robot's performance is a leap forward from the inaugural race last year, when the fastest robot took 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds to finish. Participation also surged from about 20 teams to more than 100 this year.The race wasn't just about speed — it delivered plenty of comic moments. Clips circulating on social media captured the messier side of the half-marathon.In a video posted on Instagram on Sunday, one robot stumbled at the starting line, crashing face-first and breaking apart on impact. Its limbs were scattered across the track.Staff rushed in with a stretcher, gathering the pieces in a scene that resembled a first-aid effort."Helpppp why did they run over and put it on a stretcher im CRYING," one user wrote in a comment on the Instagram post.Another Instagram video showed the Honor robot veering into a barricade late in the race. It recovered and kept going to the finish line, while engineers jogged behind, clutching control devices. It made for a good laugh."Dudes were really trying to keep up with that thing," a user commented on the post. View this post on Instagram . A post shared by CHINA MINUTES (@chinaminutes)
On X, compilations of robots falling and malfunctioning during the marathon went viral. In one video posted by @SilviusBerthold, robots were seen crashing into barricades, collapsing mid-run, and twitching on the track.China has been racing to develop and deploy humanoid robots, even experimenting with integrating AI agents such as OpenClaw.In a January earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the biggest rivals to Optimus would likely come from China.Still, mishaps involving Chinese robots have continued to make headlines. In February, a humanoid robot from XPeng flopped face-first during a public showcase. XPeng CEO He Xiaopeng likened the moment to "children learning to walk."In another incident earlier this year, a humanoid. robot developed by Unitree kicked an engineer in the groin during a test.Read the original article on Business Insider
