On April 19, the 2026 Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon kicked off. Finally, a robot breaks the human half-marathon record. This robot marathon also attracted the attention of foreign media. The following is a summary of foreign media’s comments:
Robot breaks human record
Reuters: Technology advances rapidly
Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots demonstrated their rapidly improving athletic abilities and autonomous navigation capabilities during the Beijing Half Marathon on Sunday, speeding around and surpassing humans on the track.Highlighting the rapid technological advancements being made in this field.
Last year's inaugural competition was riddled with accidents and most robots failed to finish. Last year’s champion robot clocked 2 hours and 40 minutes, more than twice the time of the human champion. This year's situation is in stark contrast. Not only did the number of participating teams increase from 20 to more than 100, but several leading robots were significantly faster than professional athletes, more than 10 minutes faster than the human champion.
Nikkei Asia: China's technological leap
The winning humanoid robot ran faster than the human world record at the Robot Half Marathon in Beijing on Sunday.It demonstrates China's technological leap in this field.
CNN: Improving technological capabilities to compete with the United States
Chinese humanoid robot breaks human half marathon world recordThis extraordinary achievement marks a major step forward for China in its technological race with the United States.So far, the United States has claimed to have more sophisticated models of humanoid robots. Since the Chinese government listed robots as one of the ten key industries in the industrial upgrading blueprint in 2015, China's robot industry has entered a period of accelerated development.
The Guardian: Robots are making rapid progress
Champion robot runs faster than Jacob Kiplimo's world record, shows howHumanoid robotics technology has made rapid progress.
The robot's performance improved significantly compared to last year's inaugural competition. Last year, the winning humanoid robot finished the race in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds, more than twice the time taken by the human champion in the same period, and most robots failed to finish. And this year, several robots are faster than professional athletes. Nearly half of the robots achieved autonomous navigation to complete the competition, rather than relying on remote control instructions.
NBC: Robots defeat humans to highlight technological progress
In the competition between humans and robots,The robot won, showing the technological progress of robots.Last year's half-marathon ended in embarrassment when robots competed with human runners. This year, things are very different. Not only did the champion robot beat 12,000 human competitors, it even surpassed the human half-marathon world record set by Kiplimo in Lisbon last month by nearly seven minutes.