Humanoid Robots Struggle in Beijing Half Marathon Race

April 19, 2025, 4:20 pm

Two reports detail the world’s first humanoid half-marathon held in Beijing’s E-Town tech hub. The pieces describe how 21 humanoid robots attempted the race, with major issues such as stumbling and overheating impeding their performance. Notably, only four robots managed to cross the finish line, underscoring the current limitations of advanced robotics compared to human athletes. Both articles highlight the need for further improvements in robotic agility and endurance as engineers continue to tackle these challenges amid growing global interest in competitive robotics.

Reddit: r/technology

Bluesky: @zoeschiffer.bsky.social, @zeyiyang.bsky.social, @wired.com

wired.com / Stumbling and Overheating, Most Humanoid Robots Fail to Finish Half Marathon in Beijing

Only four of the 21 robots in the race crossed the finish line, highlighting just how far humanoids are from keeping up with their real human counterparts.

techcrunch.com / Robots run a half marathon, slowly

It looks like humanoid robots have a long way to go before catching up with human runners. Beijing’s E-Town tech hub hosted what it described as the first world’s first humanoid half-marathon on Saturday, with 21 humanoid robots competing alongside thousands of humans. Bloomberg reports that...

permalink / 6 stories from 4 sources in 10 days ago #robotics #automation #hardware #innovation #ml #china

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