Overview
- Honor’s autonomous robot Qitian Dasheng won in Beijing on Sunday with a 50:26 half‑marathon, faster than the human world record, though robots ran in a separate, prepared lane.
- Another Honor robot, teleoperated and nicknamed Lightning, crossed first in 48:19 but was ranked behind after the event’s penalty for non‑autonomous control.
- Organizers said about 40% of entries completed the course fully autonomously under a unified table that favored self‑navigation in the official standings.
- The race assembled more than 100 robot teams alongside roughly 12,000 human runners on parallel lanes over a 21.0975 km urban route in Yizhuang, Beijing E‑Town.
- Coverage noted a leap from 2025’s winning 2:40:42 to about 50 minutes this year and recurring falls and collisions, as China uses the event to drive humanoid robotics under its 2026–2030 plan.