Overview
- Honor’s 169 cm-tall robot “Lightning” finished the 21.1 km course in 50:26 in Beijing on Sunday, a time faster than the men’s human world record of 57:20.
- Organisers said about 40% of entrants ran autonomously, and a remote-controlled Honor robot clocked 48:19 but did not win because scoring favored autonomy.
- Robots and humans used parallel lanes to prevent collisions, and several machines stumbled, hit barriers or overheated, with the winner briefly needing help after clipping a railing near the finish.
- Honor engineers credited long 90–95 cm legs, liquid cooling adapted from smartphones, and onboard sensors with AI for navigation as key to the speed and stability.
- Participation jumped from about 20 teams in 2025 to more than 100, reflecting China’s policy drive and industry scale, with Omdia naming AGIBOT, Unitree and UBTech as top global shippers.