Runners vs. robots: an unprecedented race at the Beijing half-marathon

“Run Robot Run.” We thought we’d seen everything in the running world: competitors racing in flip-flops, marathoners dressed as giant bananas, Axel Ramponi running a sub-2:50 in a three-piece suit... but no. China decided to take things one step further: putting 1.80-metre, 52-kilogram humanoid robots through a half-marathon. Yes, robots. Not scooter-riding pacers or camera drones. Articulated bipeds attempting to cover the 21 kilometres and 97.5 metres of the Yizhuang Half-Marathon, in the Beijing suburbs, on 19 April. Held in E-Town, the capital’s technology development zone, it was the first time this kind of technological madness had taken on an event of such length.

Why were they running in the first place?

Beyond the publicity stunt, this robotic half-marathon was a huge test. A test of AI research, locomotion technology, energy management and dynamic balance. Put simply, running in a straight line for 21 kilometres is a nightmare for a machine. But if it can be done, the potential applications are wild: disaster-response robots, intelligent exoskeletons, advanced urban mobility... The race is only a pretext. A good one, though, because almost everyone understands what it means to run 21 kilometres without stopping.

Robots on one side, finely tuned humans on the other

The symbolism was hard to miss: 21 robots started, six finished. Not many. But still a remarkable result, given that most of them had never run more than a few hundred metres before. The starting line featured quite a cast: robots of varying weights, up to 88 kilograms for the heavyweights, from every corner of China. A two-speed race: one pace set by battery life, the other by the joystick. They ran on a dedicated track, because safety first, accompanied by human operators ready to step in after a fall, a glitch, a breakdown or whenever a recharge was needed.

Out on the tarmac, there was a full parade of styles. Some robots moved as if “Marathon Man” were stored in their memory banks; others looked as though they were discovering their legs for the first time. Most made their own decisions, calculation by calculation, while others waited patiently for remote commands. One eventually took a tumble, then got back up on its own, stoically, with a kind of “I’m fine, everything’s fine” attitude. Another, more heavily built than the rest, made an unexpected detour to say hello to a barrier. Meanwhile, the humans filmed the whole thing from their lane, half-amused and half-stunned. Honestly, who would have thought the half-marathon would become a stage for robot slapstick?

1:01 versus 2:40: flesh-and-blood humans still have the edge

On the human side, things moved much faster. Kenyan runner Mutiso Kibet finished in 1:01:10, while the first woman, Ethiopian runner Gelana Dida, crossed the line in 1:08:29. Both were light-years ahead of the fastest robot on the day. That machine was Tiangong Ultra, essentially China’s answer to Boston Dynamics. It covered the 21.1 kilometres in 2:40, with three battery changes, one fall and a few manual adjustments. To put that time into perspective, it is the sort of result a well-trained amateur might run, but still a long way off elite standards.

Running on a track may seem like a small step for a human. But for a humanoid robot, it is truly a giant leap

Tang Jian, chief technology officer at the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre, the institution that built the best-performing robot from the ground up, told the press he was “very satisfied ” before adding: “We had three goals: to win, to complete the entire half-marathon with a single robot [...] and to finish in under three hours,” he admitted. “We collected data from professional runners and trained the robot to adapt its stride, cadence, step length and posture to get as close as possible to that of an athlete.” Last Thursday, when Liang Liang told AFP, “Running on a track may seem like a small step for a human. But for a humanoid robot, it is truly a giant leap,” the deputy director of the E-Town management committee was doing more than delivering a neat sound bite. It was a carefully calibrated, almost solemn line that placed the event in a much broader perspective than a simple sporting demonstration. For better or worse, it is a vision of what sport might become.

A quick comparison for a laugh, or a little concern

A genuine technology test, but not a sporting breakthrough just yet

The event also shows that humanoid robots are beginning to run for real. They are no longer just stumbling around while reciting pre-programmed phrases: they trot, fall, get back up and keep moving. But for now, they are not autonomous. They need operators, manual battery changes and intervention whenever something goes wrong mechanically. In short, they do not yet have a “finish-line mindset”. We may laugh about it today, but we could be talking about them very differently in ten years. Technological progress is moving at a ridiculous pace. Today, these machines run a half-marathon in 2:40 while overheating. Tomorrow, they might run a marathon in under two hours, the ultimate marathoner’s fantasy.

All right, let’s calm down for a moment. For now, robots mainly sweat through their circuit boards, and they need an entire support crew to cross a finish line. But this Yizhuang half-marathon may be the very beginning of a major shift: a world where endurance is no longer just a matter of heart, legs and mental strength, but also lines of code and lithium-ion batteries.

So no, these mechanical humanoids have not passed us yet. But they are there, on the same starting line, and they are getting faster all the time. And if one day a robot catches you at kilometre 19 of the Paris Marathon, at least remember that it won’t steal your Finisher medal at the aid station. At least, not yet.