A humanoid robot from Honor crushed the Beijing half-marathon in 50:26, smashing the human world record and leaving 12,000 runners behind. From failures in 2025 to podium dominance in 2026, China's robots show explosive progress in autonomy and speed, a glimpse into the future of AI-powered machines.
In a jaw-dropping display of China's rapid robotics boom, a humanoid robot, developed by smartphone maker Honor sprinted to victory in the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon, finishing the 21-kilometer course in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
The time not only beat all 12,000 human runners by more than 10 minutes but also shattered the men's half-marathon world record of 57:20 set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo last month.
Nearly half of the more than 100 competing Chinese-made humanoid robots ran fully autonomously, relying on their own sensors, AI algorithms, and navigation systems while racing on parallel tracks to avoid collisions with humans. Honor's teams swept the podium, with all top three finishers operating autonomously and posting record-breaking times.
This marks a huge improvement from the inaugural 2025 event, where most robots stumbled, overheated, or failed to finish. Only six of 21 completed the race, with the winner clocking a sluggish 2 hours and 40 minutes, more than double the human champion's time that year.
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