Overview
- Lightning, a humanoid from smartphone maker Honor, finished the 21 km course in 50:26 on Sunday in Beijing, a faster time than Jacob Kiplimo’s 57:20 human record.
- Event rules favored autonomous navigation, so a separate Honor robot that clocked 48:19 under remote control did not take the title.
- Organizers said more than 100 robot teams raced alongside about 12,000 human runners on parallel, barrier-separated courses for safety.
- About 40% of entrants ran autonomously, yet several machines stumbled, with falls at the start and collisions with barriers showing lingering limits.
- Engineers cited longer legs about 90 to 95 cm and liquid cooling borrowed from smartphones, and state outlets framed the race as part of China’s 2026–2030 plan to speed work on humanoid robots.