{"id":3240,"date":"2026-04-20T18:10:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:10:34","slug":"humanoid-robot-sprints-to-victory-in-beijing-beating-the-human-half-marathon-world-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240","title":{"rendered":"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China&#8217;s technological leaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21-kilometer (13-mile) race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race kicked off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rema - AZAMAN\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z2L51xr45As?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That was faster than the human world record holder, Uganda\u2019s Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward from last year&#8217;s inaugural race, during which the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the race wasn\u2019t without hiccups \u2014 one robot fell flat at the start line, another bumped into a barrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beijing E-Town said about 40% of the robots navigated the course autonomously, while the others were remotely controlled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>State media outlet Global Times reported that a separate, remotely-controlled robot from Honor was the first to cross the finish line in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. But it said the winning one used autonomous navigation and received the championship under the event\u2019s weighted scoring rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>State broadcaster CCTV reported that the runners-up, which were also from Honor and used autonomous navigation, finished the race in about 51 minutes and 53 minutes respectively. A robot served as a traffic officer to direct the participants with its arm gestures and voice, CCTV added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In China, technology has evolved into an area of competition with the U.S. with national security implications. Beijing\u2019s latest five-year plan vows to \u201ctarget the frontiers of science and technology.\u201d Speeding up the development of products like humanoid robots and their applications is part of the 2026-2030 plan for the world\u2019s second-largest economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>London-based technology research and advisory group Omdia recently ranked three Chinese companies \u2014 AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics and UBTech Robotics Corp. \u2014 as the only first-tier vendors in its global assessment for shipment numbers for general-purpose embodied intelligent robots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They all shipped more than 1,000 units of the robots last year, with the first two companies shipping more than 5,000 units, the report said. <a href=\"https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/sports\/a-humanoid-robot-sprints-to-victory-in-beijing-beating-the-human-half-marathon-world-record\">(JapanToday)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China&#8217;s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21-kilometer (13-mile) race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[182,3394,3393],"class_list":["post-3240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-china","tag-half-marathon","tag-humanoid-robot"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record - Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T18:10:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T18:10:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"567\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\"},\"headline\":\"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-20T18:10:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T18:10:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240\"},\"wordCount\":391,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"China\",\"half-marathon\",\"humanoid robot\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240\",\"name\":\"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record - Tona Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-20T18:10:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T18:10:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg\",\"width\":850,\"height\":567,\"caption\":\"A robot starts off next to human marathon runners for the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Half Marathon held on the outskirts of Beijing on Sunday April 19, 2026. (AP Photo\\\/Ng Han Guan)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=3240#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tona Today\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Tona Today\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":117,\"caption\":\"Tona Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\",\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tona.Today\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record - Tona Today","description":"A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record - Tona Today","og_description":"A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a","og_url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240","og_site_name":"Tona Today","article_published_time":"2026-04-20T18:10:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-20T18:10:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":850,"height":567,"url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tona.Today","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tona.Today","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240"},"author":{"name":"Tona.Today","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/person\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477"},"headline":"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record","datePublished":"2026-04-20T18:10:32+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-20T18:10:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240"},"wordCount":391,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg","keywords":["China","half-marathon","humanoid robot"],"articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240","name":"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record - Tona Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-04-20T18:10:32+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-20T18:10:34+00:00","description":"A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Humanoid-Robot.jpeg","width":850,"height":567,"caption":"A robot starts off next to human marathon runners for the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Half Marathon held on the outskirts of Beijing on Sunday April 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ng Han Guan)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3240#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tona.today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Humanoid robot sprints to victory in Beijing, beating the human half-marathon world record"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/","name":"Tona Today","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization","name":"Tona Today","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg","width":500,"height":117,"caption":"Tona Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/person\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477","name":"Tona.Today","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tona.Today"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/tona.today"],"url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?author=2"}]}},"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3242,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240\/revisions\/3242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}