Humanoid robot smashes half-marathon world record

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A robot shaped like a human recently set a new world record in Beijing, China, completing a half-marathon almost six minutes faster than the top human runner.

Robot competitions are becoming increasingly popular in China. In 2025, the first-ever games for humanoid robots took place, featuring events like martial arts, boxing, and soccer. Interestingly, the winner of the half-marathon finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes – a relatively slow time.

The 2026 event saw a huge increase in participation, with over 100 teams entering robots in the half-marathon – that’s five times more than the year before! Everyone was eager to see if a robot could beat the existing record.

The 2026 winner completed it 2 hours quicker than last year

Honor, a Chinese smartphone company, created a running robot called Lightning that completed a 21-kilometer run in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds – an amazing feat!

Okay, so this run wasn’t just a new best for robots – it actually beat the human world record! Jacob Kiplimo from Uganda held it before at 57 minutes and 20 seconds, but this just smashed that time. Seriously impressive!

Okay, so Lightning is this incredible 169-meter-tall red robot, and what really struck me was how it moved! Its arms are short and swing like a runner’s – it’s seriously designed for balance. What’s even cooler is that it wasn’t controlled by a person, it navigated all on its own, which was pretty rare for robots back then. Plus, it had this advanced liquid-cooling system and could give short bursts of extra power to really push its performance – it was a total game changer!

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2026-04-19 18:49