On April 19, 2025, the world’s first robot half-marathon took place in Beijing. More than twenty robots competed alongside humans, or technically, behind humans, as only six of the 21 robots managed to finish the race. According to the Asia Times, the first-place robot, named Tiangong by its creators, finished in two hours and 40 minutes, an hour and 38 minutes behind the human winner.
With the current technology race between China and the U.S. ever growing, the fact that these robots did as well as they did in the race marks a big accomplishment in robot advancement, and one in which Chinese developers are taking pride.
“That more than twenty robot companies participated shows that robot tech in China is pushing forward,” said Guo Yijie, team lead for the winning robot.
“Our vision is for humanoid robots to integrate into various industries and households, serving humanity in meaningful ways,” said Wei Jiaxing, a public relations lead at the Beijing Innovation Centre of Humanoid Robotics.
These robot athletes did have their fair share of problems. The winning robot fell over once and needed a battery change three times during the race. Another robot didn’t even make it past the starting line before falling over. And noted by NBC, some robots became “too tired” to continue on their own and required operations teams to guide them with leashes.
Still, the Chinese developers seemed pleased with their performance. “I don’t want to boast, but no other robotics firms in the West have matched Tiangong’s sporting achievements,” said Tian Jian, Chief of Technology Officer for the Beijing Innovation Centre of Humanoid Robots, in an article on The Guardian.
The Guardian also quoted He Sishu, a spectator at the race who works in artificial intelligence, who noted, “I feel like I’m witnessing the evolution of robots and AI,” according to The Guardian.
From the recent emergence of DeepSeek to marathon-running robots, China is arguably leading the AI race. Whether these new advances represent a leap forward or backward for humans remains to be seen.
