A humanoid robot just beat the human half-marathon world record by seven minutes in Beijing

A humanoid robot named Lightning completed the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon today in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record by nearly seven minutes. The robot, built by Shenzhen Honor Smart Technology Development Co., navigated the 21-kilometre course autonomously, without remote control, using multi-sensor fusion and real-time decision-making algorithms. A second Lightning unit, this one remotely controlled, crossed the finish line even faster at 48 minutes and 19 seconds. The human half-marathon world record is 57 minutes and 20 seconds, set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon on 8 March.

The robots and the roughly 12,000 human runners followed the same route but competed in separate lanes. The human race was won by Zhao Haijie of China in 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds. The robot race was won by a machine that stands 169 centimetres tall, has an effective leg length of 95 centimetres ...