Overview
- The autonomous Honor robot finished Sunday in 50:26 and was declared champion under self-navigation rules, a time reported as faster than the human world record.
- A separate Honor unit crossed first in 48:19 but lost the title because it was remotely controlled and received a penalty under the event’s weighted scoring.
- Organizers said about 40% of robots completed the 21.0975 km course without human control alongside roughly 12,000 human runners in Beijing’s E‑Town district.
- Results showed a steep jump from 2025’s winning time of about 2 hours 40 minutes, but the race also featured falls, collisions, and a pre‑start failure that emitted smoke.
- Officials and state media framed the open urban course as a public proving ground within China’s 2026–2030 plan to accelerate humanoid robotics for industrial and city use.