Honor robot sets half-marathon world record in Beijing (50:26)

Honor’s autonomous robot finished the Beijing E-Town robots-versus-humans half-marathon in 50 minutes 26 seconds on Sunday, the fastest half-marathon time recorded by a robot at the event. The previous mark for the distance was about 57 minutes. The robot completed the course without human control.

Another Honor model, Lightning, crossed the finish line in 48 minutes 19 seconds but was operated remotely. Under the event rules, remotely controlled times are adjusted by a 1.2 factor and do not qualify for autonomous records.

The race in Beijing involved roughly 102 robot teams running alongside thousands of human participants. Organizers reported 47 robot teams finished this year, compared with six finishes out of 20 teams in a prior edition.

Spectators noted the speed gap between machines and people. “The robots’ speed far exceeds that of humans,” Wang Wen said. Sun Zhigang added, “I feel enormous changes this year. It’s the first time robots have surpassed humans, and that’s something I never imagined.”

The event also included technical problems. Several machines ran into barriers or veered off the course. A Unitree H1 robot stumbled at the finish and was carried away by its team.

Honor engineers described the race as a test of hardware and thermal management. Du Xiaodi, an engineer at Honor, noted that improvements in structural reliability and cooling could be applied to factory and service equipment over time.

Organizers said the race serves as a public showcase and a testing ground for mobility, power management and sensing systems. Officials plan to refine rules to separate autonomous achievements from remotely assisted runs, and manufacturers are expected to enter updated prototypes in future editions.

China has emphasized robotics in recent policy plans and is the largest market for industrial robots. Industry figures estimate about 2 million industrial robots are in operation in China, roughly half of the global total.