Step by mechanical step, dozens of humanoid robots took to the streets of Beijing early Saturday, joining thousands of their flesh-and-blood counterparts in a world-first half marathon showcasing China’s drive to lead the global race in cutting-edge technology.
The 21-kilometre (13-mile) event held in the Chinese capital’s E-Town — a state-backed hub for high-tech manufacturing — is billed as a groundbreaking effort to test the limits of bipedal robots in real-world conditions.
At the crack of the starter’s gun, and as a Chinese pop song “I Believe” blared out from loudspeakers on repeat, the robots queued up one by one and took their first tentative steps.
Curious human runners lined up on their side of the road and waited patiently with mobile phones at the ready to shoot each machine as they prepared to depart.
One smaller-sized android, which fell over and lay on the ground for several minutes, got up by itself to loud cheers.
Another, powered by propellers and designed to look like a Transformer, veered across the starting line before crashing into a barrier and knocking over an engineer.
“Getting onto the race track might seem like a small step for humans, but it’s a giant leap for humanoid robots,” Liang Liang, Beijing E-Town’s management committee deputy director, told AFP before the event. Nearby, engineers jogged alongside their machines.
“The marathon helps push humanoid robots one step closer toward industrialisation.”
– Tech race –
Around 20 teams from across China are taking part in the competition — with robots ranging from 75 to 180 centimetres (2.46 to 5.9 feet) tall and weighing up to 88 kilograms (194 pounds).
Some are running autonomously, while others are guided remotely by engineers, with machines and humans running on separate tracks.
Engineers told AFP the goal was to test the performance and reliability of the androids — emphasising that finishing the race, not winning it, was the main objective.
“I think it’s a big boost for the entire robotics industry,” Cui Wenhao, a 28-year-old engineer at Noetix Robotics, said of the half-marathon.
“Honestly, there are very few opportunities for the whole industry to run at full speed over such a long distance or duration. It’s a serious test for the battery, the motors, the structure — even the algorithms.”
Cui said as part of its training, a humanoid robot had been running a half-marathon every day, at a pace of about seven-minutes per kilometre, and he expected it to complete the race with no issues.
“But just in case, we’ve also prepared a backup robot,” he added.
Another young engineer, 25-year-old Kong Yichang from DroidUp, said the race would help to “lay a foundation for a whole series of future activities involving humanoid robots”.
“The significance (of the race) lies in the fact that humanoid robots can truly integrate into human society and begin doing things that humans do.”
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has sought to assert its dominance in the fields of AI and robotics, positioning itself as a direct challenger to the United States.
In January, Chinese start-up DeepSeek drew attention with a chatbot it claimed was developed more cost-effectively than its American counterparts.
Dancing humanoid robots also captivated audiences during a televised Chinese New Year gala.