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Robots run with humans in race - 2nd June 2025

In China recently, robots have just raced against humans over 21 km, a half marathon. The robots were made by Chinese companies and their height ranged from 1.2 metres to 1.8 metres.

Every robot ran with a human who helped guide it towards the finish. When necessary, they helped change batteries. As with humans, there were one or two small accidents during the race.

The winning robot was Tiangong Ultra, which was built by a Beijing firm. Their main technology officer, Tang Jian, said it was because of the amount of research they did on professional sportspeople.

Tang Jian: "We collected real-world running data from professional athletes and trained the robot so that its gait, cadence, stride length, and various postures could match those of professional runners as closely as possible."

This is the first race in which human-like robots have run with humans. It was an opportunity for China to show the world its skills. However, it was also a way of testing the machines.

Tang Jian: "The main purpose behind doing the half marathon is to prepare for future - or rather, near-future - industrial applications. When our robots are deployed in factories, commercial settings, or everyday life, we expect them to work continuously, 24/7, without failure. Running the marathon is essentially an extreme test of reliability and stability."

The winning human ran twice as fast as the winning robot. He took 62 minutes. But many people in the crowd, like Huang Xiaoyu and her daughter, believe that the future will look different. Robots will soon be the first to reach the finishing line.

Huang Xiaoyu: "Right now, humans still run faster, but in the future, do you think robots or humans will be faster? [Huang's Daughter: "Robots!"] Looks like in the future, it might just be robots that run faster."