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, Sunday, April 19. AP-Yonhap
BEIJING — 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'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 Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race kicked off.
That was faster than the human world record holder, Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March.
The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward from last year's inaugural race, during which the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.
The scale of this year's event was almost five times bigger than last year's, with more than 100 teams joining the competition, including five from overseas.
A robot resembling a toddler with a milk bottle starts off for the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Half Marathon held on the outskirts of Beijing, Sunday, April 19. AP-Yonhap
But the race wasn’t without hiccups — one robot fell flat at the start line, another bumped into a barrier.
Beijing E-Town said about 40 percent of the robots navigated the course autonomously, while the others were remotely controlled.
State broadcaster CCTV said a robot served as a traffic officer to direct the participants with it arm gestures and voice.
Source: Korea Times News
