Robot breaks human half-marathon record in Beijing race

WorldTechnology
20 Apr 2026 • 5:18 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

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This is the moment a humanoid robot won a half-marathon in Beijing, finishing ahead of human runners and cutting the previous robot record of 2 hours and 40 minutes to just 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

The winning robot, Lightning, was developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor and crossed the finish line on Sunday (19 April), faster than the human world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds held by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo since March.

More than 100 Chinese-made robots competed on parallel tracks alongside human runners, with around 40 per cent racing autonomously and the rest remotely controlled, organisers said.

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