Humanoid robot finishes half-marathon faster than the human record holder in Beijing
More than 100 humanoid robots competed in a 21.1-kilometre half-marathon held at an innovation zone in southeast Beijing on April 19, 2026.
The 2026 edition introduced new rules aimed at encouraging autonomy. Robots that could not navigate independently were allowed to compete, but their finishing times were multiplied by 1.2. Nearly 40% of the participants completed the race without human control.
Unlike the previous year, where robot designs varied widely, most teams in 2026 used standardised platforms such as Unitree, Tien Kung, or models linked to Huawei’s spin-off Honor. The competition focused mainly on software development and optimisation algorithms.
Honor robots led the race. One model crossed the finish line first with operator support, while another fully autonomous Honor robot recorded the fastest independent time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
That time was faster than the human world record holder, Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who completed the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race.
The performance marked a notable improvement from the inaugural race in 2025, when the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.
“In our training, we emulated top human runners,” said Du Xiaodi, an engineer at Honor.
The second and third place positions in the autonomous category were also secured by Honor robots.
International teams from Germany, France, Portugal and Brazil took part in the event.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
