A humanoid robot aptly named Lightning made history on the streets of Beijing over the weekend, beating the human half-marathon world record by several minutes.
Dozens of robots lined up for the Beijing E-Town Robot Half Marathon on Sunday, tackling the 13-mile (21-kilometer) race separate from human runners.
Developed by Chinese smartphone company Honor, Lightning completed the half-marathon in just over 50 minutes, besting the human world record for the distance of over 57 minutes.
Reuters/Maxim Shemetov 
Lightning’s creators were delighted with the result. Du Xiaodi, a development engineer at Honor, was quick to draw comparisons with other industries.
“Looking ahead, some of these technologies might be transferred to other areas,” said Du. “It’s similar to how the automotive industry initially developed through competitions.”
The event tested robots in real-world conditions, from balance and endurance to navigation. Some ran autonomously, while others were controlled remotely, all competing on a parallel course to avoid collisions with human athletes.
It wasn’t flawless. A few robots stumbled or veered off course, and one was carried away on a stretcher after breaking to pieces in a fall.
Maxim Shemetov / REUTERS 
But the progress was striking compared to last year, when most struggled to even finish the race.
Some spectators weren’t worried by the failures.
“I’m very excited,” said Sun Zhigang. “First of all, it’s the first time robots have surpassed humans, and that’s something I never imagined.”
“Their performance is quite impressive,” Jiang Liangzhi said. “I didn’t expect the speeds to be this fast already, and they’re all very stable.”
Reuters/Tingshu Wang 
Organizers said the marathon isn’t really about speed. It’s about pushing robotics technology beyond the lab with potential applications in manufacturing, logistics and even emergency response.
Chinese companies are pushing ahead with the development of robot technologies for both civilian and military uses, but Beijing’s robot half-marathon shows just how fast the future is moving from science fiction to sporting reality.
Maxim Shemetov / REUTERS 
