{"id":589807,"date":"2026-04-21T17:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=589807"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:28:15","slug":"a-robot-just-won-a-half-marathon-in-beijing-china-shattering-human-world-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=589807","title":{"rendered":"A robot just won a half-marathon in Beijing, China, shattering human world record"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

In a sign of the times, a robot just won a half-marathon in Beijing, China, shattering a record along the way.<\/p>\n

A humanoid machine proved that human athletes can\u2019t keep up after finishing a 13.1-mile race in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds. For reference, Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo completed that same distance in 57 minutes and 20 seconds, which is already an outstanding feat. The bot, named Lightning, raced alongside more than 100 other machines and 12,000 humans, proving that there is very little that artificial intelligence can\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

Last year, the robot racers performed much more poorly in the race, with the fastest completing the race in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Many tripped, fell, and otherwise failed to complete the distance. One even failed to make it across the starting line, while others encountered navigational problems that led to them crashing into barriers or leaving the designated race path altogether.<\/p>\n

\n

Robots now beats us!
\nBest humanoid robot in Beijing half marathon did it in 50 minutes 26 seconds.
\nThis is far better than human world record! pic.twitter.com\/Q09KjnrGTQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Erik Solheim (@ErikSolheim) April 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Honor, the Huawei spin-off company that created Lightning, managed to land the top three spots in the race with their humanoid robots, all of which posted record-breaking times.<\/p>\n

\u201cXioadi Du, an engineer from Honor\u2019s winning team, said that the record\u2013breaking bot had been developed intensively over the last year,\u201d the Daily Mail<\/a><\/em> reported. \u201cThe engineer said that Lightning had been fitted with extra\u2013long 90 to 95 cm legs to mimic the build of human elite runners. The robot is also fitted with liquid cooling technology to help manage the intense heat generated by its massive leg motors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the state media outlet Global Times, one Honor robot actually posted an even faster time of 48 minutes and 19 seconds but was pushed off the podium under the weighted scoring rules for being remotely controlled,\u201d the outlet added.<\/p>\n

X users weighed in on the unconventional race winner:<\/p>\n

\n

I won\u2019t be surprised when AI robots start self identifying as women to steal all the medals
\n\"\ud83e\udd47\"\"\ud83e\udd48\"\"\ud83e\udd49\" https:\/\/t.co\/ZAxaDZk73e<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/mKJrePSeEj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Biology Rules Ok (@OkayBiology) April 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

All fun n games until SKYNET weaponizes these droids and they decide to take over.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Brettt26 (@brettt114) April 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

That\u2019s not impressive at all.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Elliott Lindamood (@Swinebros666) April 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Wait until you find out what a robot with wheels and doors can do.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rogerborg \"\u2b1b\"\"\ud83d\udfe7\" (@RogerOfBorg) April 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Just imagine a car as machine on wheels. This is a machine on legs. So why is it surprising? Man is the inventor of both anyway !! AI can make things faster but it cant replace Natural Intelligence in man.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sujit K (@sujit_kp) April 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a sign of the times, a robot just won a half-marathon in Beijing, China, shattering a record along the way. A humanoid machine proved that human athletes can\u2019t keep up after finishing a 13.1-mile race in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds. For reference, Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo completed that same distance in 57… Continue reading A robot just won a half-marathon in Beijing, China, shattering human world record<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":589808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-589807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=589807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/589808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=589807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=589807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=589807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}