Chinese-made robots beat human record in half-marathon

# Chinese-made robots beat human record in half-marathon Source: [https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/chinese-made-robots-beat-human-record-in-half-marathon-7200956](https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/chinese-made-robots-beat-human-record-in-half-marathon-7200956) [Skip to main content](https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/chinese-made-robots-beat-human-record-in-half-marathon-7200956#base-template__workspace) The fastest human[can run a half\-marathon](https://apnews.com/article/humanoid-robots-half-marathon-beijing-302d0c4781bab20100d6a0bb4e77b629)in about 57 minutes\. The winner of a Beijing half\-marathon for humanoid robots clocked 50 minutes and 26 seconds — compared with a winning time of 2 hours and 40 minutes last year\. The feat by smartphone maker Honor underscores the rapid pace of development in robotics and automation in China\. About 40% of the robots in the race were autonomous; the rest were remotely controlled\. --- ## Editors’ Picks --- 1. The fastest half marathon ever run by a human is 57:20, and this humanoid robot just destroyed that record 😳 This weekend was the annual humans vs humanoid robots race in Beijing\. The 2026 humanoid robot winning time? 50:26 THAT'S 7 MINUTES FASTER THAN THE HUMAN WORLD RECORD\! 💨 What might be even more impressive is the gap closed from last years race… The 2025 humanoid robot winning time? 2:40:42 Thats an incredible improvement 🤯 Think about the engineering that went into this, then imagine this race 3 years from now\. There were \+300 humanoid teams running the race in 2026 🤖 Some of them were even autonomous\. These robots were optimized for these race conditions, including cooling etc\. Fun to push this tech to the limits so we can understand how to spec it properly & reliably for the real world 🦾[\#robots](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Frobots&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#humanoid](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fhumanoid&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#robotics](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Frobotics&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#robot](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Frobot&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#physicalai](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fphysicalai&trk=news_storyline_guest-text) 2. Robots competed in a half marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, with the fastest machine leaving its human rivals for dust\.⁠[https://ft\.trib\.al/Sffgm3i](https://ft.trib.al/Sffgm3i?trk=news_storyline_guest-text) 3. A running robot just beat the human half\-marathon world record 🏃♂️ It finished in 50 minutes and 26 seconds\. But the details are even more interesting: \- Most robots were still teleoperated \- Batteries had to be swapped mid\-race \- The leading robot crashed near the finish line, see video 😅 This might sound chaotic\. But imagine what this race will look like in just a few years\. Fully autonomous robots, no battery swaps, no crashes\. And continuous learning across races Robot olympics might sound like a crazy idea\. But it seems closer than ever now\. 4. A year ago, robots ran this same race and mostly struggled to finish\. Today, a humanoid robot just ran a half\-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds\. The human world record is 57 minutes and 20 seconds\. Lightning, built by Chinese smartphone maker[HONOR](https://cn.linkedin.com/company/hihonor?trk=news_storyline_guest-text), didn't just beat the other robots\. It beat every human who has ever run the distance\. More than 100 robot teams entered this year\. Nearly five times as many as last year\. I wrote about humanoid robot Olympics a while back, thinking in terms of a 10\-15 year horizon\. I was looking at sprints, at controlled demos, at lab results\. I wasn't thinking about a open\-road half\-marathon, today, in 2026, faster than any human ever\. I honestly don't know where the ceiling is anymore\. My original post:[https://lnkd\.in/dg8fk\-\-S](https://lnkd.in/dg8fk--S?trk=news_storyline_guest-text)Sources:[https://lnkd\.in/dBPppQ7C](https://lnkd.in/dBPppQ7C?trk=news_storyline_guest-text)\|[https://lnkd\.in/dCFQzd4U](https://lnkd.in/dCFQzd4U?trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#HumanoidRobots](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fhumanoidrobots&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#AI](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fai&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#Robotics](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Frobotics&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#China](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fchina&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#EmbodiedAI](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fembodiedai&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#FutureOfWork](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Ffutureofwork&trk=news_storyline_guest-text) With a time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds, this Chinese humanoid robot recently broke the world record for a half\-marathon\. 5. Headline: Why a "Robot Marathon" is anything but ridiculous\. 🤖🏃♂️ At first glance, watching humanoids shuffle through 21km in Beijing might look like a tech demo gone quirky\. But if you look closer at the hardware, you’re witnessing a brutal stress test for the future of embodied AI\. Here is what’s actually happening in this mosaic: 🔥 Thermal Management \(Top Left\): The Quasi\-Direct Drives \(QDD\) are pushed to their absolute thermal limits\. You'll see operators having to intervene to cool the actuators\. In robotics, heat is the enemy of torque; maintaining high\-speed locomotion for over an hour without frying the electronics is a massive hurdle for long\-term reliability\. ⚡ The Speed Evolution \(Top Middle\): We are moving past the "toddler walk\." The latest generation of humanoids is now hitting speeds that rival human runners\. This isn't just about fast motors—it's about the balance algorithms keeping up with the physics of high\-speed impact\. Showcasing the Ecosystem \(Top Right\):\*\* It’s not just about winning\. For many of these companies, this is a live laboratory\. They are here to collect edge\-case data that you simply can't simulate in a lab\. Reliability is built on the road, not the drawing board\. Resilience & Recovery \(Bottom\): The "fail" is actually a win\. Watch this humanoid take a hard fall\. In previous years, that would be a "mission kill\." Here, once righted by the operator, the system’s self\-balancing and gait\-planning software recalibrated instantly, allowing it to continue\. That is true hardware durability\. The Bottom Line: These companies are testing the motors, cooling systems, and structural integrity that will eventually power robots in our factories and homes\. History was made today with a record of 50:26, but the real story is in the engineering grit\.[\#Robotics](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Frobotics&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#Engineering](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fengineering&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#HumanoidRobots](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fhumanoidrobots&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#BeijingMarathon](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fbeijingmarathon&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#Hardware](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fhardware&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#AI](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Fai&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#Innovation](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Finnovation&trk=news_storyline_guest-text)[\#FutureTech](https://www.linkedin.com/login?session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fhashtag%2Ffuturetech&trk=news_storyline_guest-text) 6. Last year, at the 1st Beijing Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, out of 21 remote controlled robots only 6 crossed the finish line\. The fastest robot took 2:40 hours, 3x as long as the human winner\. This year, at the 2nd Beijing Robot Half Marathon, more than 300\(\!\) robots participated with about 40% running not remote controlled, but autonomously\. The fastest robot crossed the finish line after 50 minutes and 26 seconds, 7 minutes faster than the human world record\. The improvement in just one year is staggering\. And we are only at the beginning of the age of humanoid robots\. 7. Chinese Robot Smashed Human World Record in Beijing Half Marathon Today Lightning by Honor finished in 48 minutes despite falling over \(Human world record is 57 minutes\) Last Year 20 robots ran, this year 300\+ ran\. Something big has changed\. 2026 is being called the year of deployment for robotics People in China are expecting robots to be everywhere very soon\. Would you buy a robot for your home?