Humanoid Robot Breaks Half Marathon World Record in Beijing

A humanoid robot from Chinese smartphone maker Honor won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday, completing the 21-kilometer course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds using autonomous navigation under weighted scoring rules that favored self-directed robots. The winning time beat Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo's human world record of approximately 57 minutes, though a remotely-controlled Honor robot actually crossed the finish line first in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. The event showcased dramatic improvement from the inaugural 2023 race where the winner took 2 hours and 40 minutes, with approximately 40% of competing robots navigating autonomously. The competition aligns with Beijing's 2026-2030 plan to accelerate humanoid robot development, as Chinese companies AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics, and UBTech shipped over 1,000 units each in 2024 to become the only first-tier global vendors in general-purpose embodied intelligent robots.

Humanoid robot surpasses human half-marathon record in Beijing

• ▪The winning Honor humanoid robot completed the 21-kilometre race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds
• ▪The winning robot in the inaugural 2023 Beijing humanoid robot half-marathon finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds
• ▪Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo holds the human half-marathon world record at approximately 57 minutes, set in March at the Lisbon road race

Technical specifications and autonomous navigation capabilities

• ▪The Honor humanoid robot design features legs of approximately 95 centimeters in length, modeled on outstanding human athletes
• ▪A remotely-controlled Honor robot crossed the finish line first in 48 minutes and 19 seconds at the Beijing humanoid robot half-marathon
• ▪Approximately 40% of the robots in the Beijing half-marathon navigated the course autonomously, while the others were remotely controlled
• ▪The Honor humanoid robot is equipped with a powerful liquid-cooling system that was largely developed in-house
• ▪The runners-up robots from Honor, both using autonomous navigation, finished the Beijing half-marathon in approximately 51 minutes and 53 minutes respectively

China's strategic push in humanoid robotics development

• ▪Omdia ranked AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics, and UBTech Robotics Corp. as the only first-tier vendors globally for general-purpose embodied intelligent robot shipments
• ▪AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics, and UBTech Robotics Corp. each shipped more than 1,000 units of general-purpose embodied intelligent robots in 2024
• ▪Beijing's 2026-2030 five-year plan includes speeding up the development of humanoid robots and their applications

Perspective of Beijing municipal government

• ▪The Beijing humanoid robot half-marathon serves as a practical implementation platform for the city's 2026-2030 robotics development plan