A unique half marathon took place in Beijing, where 21 humanoid robots lined up alongside human runners to tackle the 21-kilometer course, according to the BBC. This marks the first time robots have competed directly with humans over such a distance.
The top-performing robot, named Tiangong Ultra, completed the course in 2 hours and 40 minutes—more than twice as slow as the fastest human finisher, who ran it in 1 hour and 2 minutes. Other robots showed more modest results: some managed to finish the race, while others struggled right from the start.
One robot fell at the starting line and lay still for several minutes before getting back up to continue. Another made it only a few meters before crashing into a barrier and knocking over its human operator.
All participating robots were developed by various Chinese companies.
