Beijing's humanoid robot half marathon: results from 2025 and 2026, and what they show

In two years, Beijing's humanoid robot half marathon went from a slow test of survival to a race faster than any human. In April 2025 the winning robot took about 2 hours 40 minutes and most entries missed the cut-off. On 19 April 2026, an autonomous Honor robot finished in 50:26. The race reports also show the support crews, penalties and falls behind those times.

Two editions, two very different results

The race runs alongside the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, in the south of the city. The Beijing municipal government's English portal describes it as a dedicated half marathon for humanoid robots. The portal says 20 teams entered in 2025 and more than 100 in 2026.

The 2025 race, as reported by TechCrunch:

• 21 humanoid robots started, and only four finished inside the four-hour cut-off.
• The winner was Tiangong Ultra, from the government-backed X-Humanoid centre, in about 2 hours 40 minutes. The Beijing portal gives the official time as 2:40:42.
• The fastest man in the human race finished in about 1 hour 2 minutes, so the robot took more than twice as long.

The 2026 race, as reported by the Associated Press via PBS and Xinhua:

• More than 300 robots from more than 100 teams took part, according to AP. Xinhua reported teams from Germany, France and Brazil as well as China.
• An Honor robot called Lightning (Xinhua translates the name as "Flash") won the autonomous category in 50:26. Honor is a Chinese smartphone maker.
• That time is faster than the human half-marathon world record of 57:20, set by Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March 2026.
• AP reported that Honor robots also took the next two autonomous places, in about 51 and 53 minutes.
• The fastest men's and women's runners in the human race, Zhao Haijie and Wang Qiaoxia, finished in 1:07:47 and 1:18:06, according to Xinhua.

Why the fastest robot did not win

A remote-controlled Honor robot crossed the line in 48 minutes 19 seconds, faster than the winner. AP and TechCrunch's 2026 report both say it was not named champion. The reason is a scoring rule.

According to Xinhua, the organisers multiplied every remote-controlled time by 1.2, to encourage teams to develop autonomous navigation. With that factor, 48:19 becomes about 58 minutes, which is slower than the autonomous winner. AP and TechCrunch say about 40% of robots ran autonomously and the rest were steered by human operators.

The organisers' event page for 2026 adds a practical detail. Remote-control operators had to stay inside their vehicles except when absolutely necessary. In 2025, TechCrunch reported, most operators ran beside their robots. Tiangong Ultra itself followed a human runner who carried a signalling device on his back.

For anyone watching a robot at an event, this matters. A robot's time, or its performance, depends on who or what is steering it. Our guide to teleoperated and autonomous robots explains how to ask suppliers about this.

Endurance: heat, legs and battery swaps

Running 21 km is mostly a test of heat and energy, not balance. In 2025, TechCrunch reported that smoke came out of the head of one small robot, Little Giant, partway through the race. The rules allowed battery changes, and Tiangong Ultra's battery was changed three times on the way to its win.

Battery changes were still part of the race in 2026. Xinhua reported engineers changing the battery of a Tiangong Ultra robot on the course. The winning Honor design was built for distance. AP reported that its legs are about 95 cm long and that it uses a liquid-cooling system Honor developed in-house. An Honor engineer told AP that the reliability and cooling work could later be used in industrial settings.

Scientific American asked roboticists what changed. Yanran Ding said motors have long been able to run short distances, and that cooling was what limited longer runs. Liquid circulation is one way to deal with that. Alan Fern said the improvement came from engineering and investment rather than a new scientific discovery about walking.

In short, the robots did not get much better at walking between 2025 and 2026. They got better at keeping their motors cool and their batteries supplied for longer. Battery swaps, cooling and spare robots are the same things event teams need to plan for. Our guide to battery life and charging during long events covers this in detail.

Falls, crashes and the people around them

Falls happened in both years. In 2025, TechCrunch reported that:

• a robot called Shennong tripped a support runner, then hit a fence and broke apart;
• a Unitree G1 fell at the start line;
• substitute robots were allowed in, with a time penalty.

The 2026 race was cleaner but not free of incidents. AP and TechCrunch reported that one robot fell at the start and another hit a barrier. Scientific American reported that a robot crashed into a barricade, fell and waited for its handlers to stand it up again.

The safety layout explains why these incidents did not hurt spectators. In 2025 the robots ran in separate, fenced lanes and started at staggered times, according to TechCrunch. In 2026, according to the organisers' event page, humans and robots started together but ran on courses kept apart by barriers or planted strips. A robot that falls at running speed carries real force. The race was designed so that this happened away from the crowd, with trained handlers close by.

What the record does and does not show

The 50:26 time is real, but it is easy to read too much into it. Scientific American pointed out that the robots ran a mapped, rehearsed course with support crews. MIT roboticist Rodney Brooks dismissed the race as a publicity stunt. He argued that a robot following a pre-mapped route shows nothing about safety or about dealing with the real world. The magazine also made a broader point: tasks people find hard, like running fast, are not always hard for machines. Everyday tasks such as folding laundry remain much more difficult for robots.

TechCrunch quoted a similar view from an observer, who compared the result to a car outrunning a cheetah. A robot with long mechanical legs and liquid cooling beating a human is not a fair race. It is a test of how long the machine can keep going.

What the two editions do show is steady improvement in engineering for long running, and a big increase in the number of teams willing to compete in public. They also show how much the result depends on the rules. Without the 1.2 factor, a remote-controlled robot would have won.

The series continues. The Beijing portal announced in August 2026 that registration had opened for the next edition, set for 18 April 2027. For how other Beijing robot events have gone, see our analysis of the World Humanoid Robot Games.

What this means for event organisers

• Ask what "autonomous" means. In 2026 about 60% of robots in the race were still steered by humans. Ask your supplier who will control the robot during your event, and from where.
• Plan for the support crew. Even in the 2026 race, a robot that fell needed handlers to stand it up. Agree how many operators will be present, where they will stand and how quickly they can step in. See what happens if the robot fails on the day.
• Treat battery and heat as scheduling limits. If race robots needed battery swaps over two to three hours, a demo robot needs breaks too, especially outdoors or under stage lights. Ask for the planned run time, the swap time and the spare battery count.
• Keep the public separated. The organisers separated robots from runners with barriers and spacing. Moving robots near visitors need the same thinking: see our guide to safety at public events.
• Read the record correctly. A race robot designed to run 21 km is not the same machine you can hire for a stand. What it shows is engineering progress, not proof that robots can safely run among crowds.

Frequently asked questions

Who won the 2026 Beijing humanoid robot half marathon?

An autonomous robot called Lightning, built by the Chinese smartphone maker Honor, won in 50 minutes 26 seconds on 19 April 2026, according to the Associated Press and Xinhua. Xinhua translates the robot's name as Flash. A remote-controlled Honor robot crossed the line faster, in 48:19, but did not win. Under the race rules, remote-controlled times were multiplied by 1.2 to encourage autonomous navigation.

How did the robots do in the first race in 2025?

TechCrunch reported that 21 humanoid robots started the April 2025 race and only four finished inside the four-hour cut-off. The winner, Tiangong Ultra, took about 2 hours 40 minutes, with three battery changes, and followed a human pacer. Other robots fell, crashed into fences or stopped as smoke came from them. The fastest man in the human race finished in about 1 hour 2 minutes.

Were robots allowed to change batteries during the race?

Yes. TechCrunch reported that battery changes were allowed in 2025, and the winner, Tiangong Ultra, had its battery changed three times. Xinhua reported engineers changing a robot's battery on the course in 2026 as well. Substitute robots could also be brought in, with a time penalty. The race tested how well teams managed energy and heat as much as how fast the robots could run.

Does the 2026 record mean robots can now run safely among people?

No. Scientific American noted that the robots ran a mapped, rehearsed course with support crews. Robots and human runners were kept apart by barriers. Even in 2026, one robot hit a barricade and fell, and had to wait for its handlers to stand it up. Experts quoted by the magazine said the result shows progress in cooling and engineering, not general ability to cope with crowds.

When is the next Beijing humanoid robot half marathon?

In August 2026, the Beijing municipal government's English portal announced that global registration had opened for the 2027 Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, set for 18 April 2027. The portal says teams apply by sending the required materials to the organisers by email. More details are published on the event's official WeChat account.

How this article was made: written by the humanoid4rent editorial team with AI assistance; every factual statement was checked against the sources listed below on 2026-10-31. Spotted an error? Write to info@humanoid4rent.com.