A humanoid robot in Beijing has sprinted past the human half-marathon world record during a race on April 19, 2026, showcasing significant advancements in technology.
A robot starts off for the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Half Marathon on the outskirts of Beijing on Sunday, April 19, 2026. Ng Han Guan/AP
Ng Han Guan/AP
BEIJING — A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China's technological leaps.
The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21-kilometer (13-mile) race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race kicked off.
The robot's performance highlights China's technological advancements and raises questions about the future of robotics in competitive sports.
The humanoid robot race occurred on April 19, 2026, during the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon.
The humanoid robot ran faster than the existing human half-marathon world record, demonstrating its advanced capabilities.
The participation of robots in human sports could redefine competition, challenge existing records, and spark debates on the role of technology in athletics.
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That was faster than the human world record holder, Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race.
The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward from last year's inaugural race, during which the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.
But the competition, which was held alongside a race for humans, wasn't without hiccups — one robot fell flat at the start line, another bumped into a barrier.
A robot crashes against a board after crossing the finish line in the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in the outskirts of Beijing, Sunday, April 19, 2026. Andy Wong/AP
Andy Wong/AP
Du Xiaodi, Honor's test development engineer, said his team was happy with the results. Du said its robot design was modeled on outstanding human athletes, with long legs of about 95 cm (around 37 inches), and was equipped with what he called a powerful liquid-cooling system, which was largely developed in-house.
"Looking ahead, some of these technologies might be transferred to other areas. For example, structural reliability and liquid-cooling technology could be applied in future industrial scenarios," he said.
While it will still take time to achieve widespread commercialization of humanoid robots, spectators were already impressed by the robots. Sun Zhigang, who had been in the audience last year, watched Sunday's race with his son.
"I feel enormous changes this year," Sun said. "It's the first time robots have surpassed humans, and that's something I never imagined."
Wang Wen, who came with his family, said robots seemed to have stolen much of the spotlight from human runners in the event.
"The robots' speed far exceeds that of humans," he said. "This may signal the arrival of sort of a new era."
Beijing E-Town said about 40% of the robots navigated the course autonomously, while the others were remotely controlled.
State media outlet Global Times reported that a separate, remotely-controlled robot from Honor was the first to cross the finish line in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. But it said the winning one used autonomous navigation and received the championship under the event's weighted scoring rules.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that the runners-up, which were also from Honor and used autonomous navigation, finished the race in about 51 minutes and 53 minutes respectively. A robot served as a traffic officer to direct the participants with its arm gestures and voice, CCTV added.
A robot runs as it competes in the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon on the outskirts of Beijing, Sunday, April 19, 2026. Andy Wong/AP
Andy Wong/AP
In China, technology has evolved into an area of competition with the U.S. with national security implications. Beijing's latest five-year plan vows to "target the frontiers of science and technology." Speeding up the development of products like humanoid robots and their applications is part of the 2026-2030 plan for the world's second-largest economy.
London-based technology research and advisory group Omdia recently ranked three Chinese companies — AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics and UBTech Robotics Corp. — as the only first-tier vendors in its global assessment for shipment numbers for general-purpose embodied intelligent robots.
They all shipped more than 1,000 units of the robots last year, with the first two companies shipping more than 5,000 units, the report said.
