A humanoid robot stunned everyone at a half-marathon for robots in Beijing on Sunday, finishing the race faster than the human world record and showing how far China’s technology has come. The robot, built by Honor, completed the 21-kilometre (13-mile) race in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds, Associated Press (AP) reported citing a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began.
This time was quicker than the human world record holder, Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who ran the same distance in about 57 minutes during the Lisbon road race in March. The robot’s performance was a huge improvement compared to last year’s first edition of the event, where the winning robot took 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds, the report mentioned.
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This Chinese humanoid robot just shattered the world record for a half marathon, finishing in 50 min 26 sec.
This video shows its crash just meters before the finish line where it had to be picked up by a team of humans. The robot is from Honor, the smartphone maker and Huawei… pic.twitter.com/HflDC0rInX
— Kyle Chan (@kyleichan) April 19, 2026
The race, which was held alongside a human marathon, wasn’t perfect. A robot taking part in a half marathon malfunctioned during the race after it failed to detect an obstacle, crashing into it and breaking apart.
The damaged machine was later taken off the track by a team, underlining that even with rapid progress in automation, robots still face real-world limitations.
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🚨 REPORT: A robot participating in a half marathon in China malfunctioned after failing to detect an obstacle, crashing and breaking apart during the race.
The machine was later removed from the track by a team, highlighting ongoing limitations in robotics despite growing… pic.twitter.com/NJ38QPTNPH
— Amebo Osim News (@Ameboosimnews_) April 19, 2026
Spectators amazed by rapid progress
Still, the crowd was impressed. Spectator Sun Zhigang, who also attended last year with his son, noticed a big change. “I feel enormous changes this year. It’s the first time robots have surpassed humans, and that’s something I never imagined,” AP quoted Zhigang as saying.
According to Beijing E-Town, around 40% of the robots completed the course on their own, while the rest were controlled remotely.
State media outlet Global Times reported that another robot from Honor, which was remotely controlled, actually crossed the finish line first in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. However, the robot that won the race used autonomous navigation and was declared the champion based on the event’s scoring rules.
Confusion over finish, but autonomous robot wins
State broadcaster China Central Television said the second- and third-place robots, also from Honor and using autonomous systems, finished in about 51 minutes and 53 minutes. It also reported that one robot acted as a traffic officer, guiding runners with arm signals and voice instructions.
In China, technology has become a major area of competition with the United States, especially in terms of national security. The country’s latest five-year plan aims to “target the frontiers of science and technology,” with a strong focus on speeding up the development of humanoid robots and their use between 2026 and 2030.
A recent report by London-based research firm Omdia ranked three Chinese companies – AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics and UBTech Robotics Corp. – as the only top-tier vendors globally for general-purpose intelligent robots based on shipments. Each of them delivered more than 1,000 robots last year, with AGIBOT and Unitree Robotics shipping over 5,000 units each, according to the report.