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Humans easily outran robots in a special half-marathon in Beijing.
The race took place in Yizhuang, a part of the Chinese capital. Thousands of human runners joined 21 humanoid robots in the world’s first 21-kilometer race that included robots.
But many robots struggled. One robot collapsed right after the race started and didn’t move for a while. Another crashed into a barrier just after starting and pulled its handler down too.
Some robots did reach the finish line but were far behind the humans. The best robot, called Tiangong Ultra, finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes. That was more than an hour slower than the winning human runner.
Alan Fern, a robotics professor in the U.S., said these events are fun to watch, but they don’t show real intelligence or practical use.
Still, some people were impressed. A local AI engineer named He Sishu said, “The robots are running very well… I feel I’m witnessing the evolution of robots and AI.”
The robots weren’t truly running on their own. Each had a team of engineers, and some even needed help to stay upright.
Chinese tech companies like DroidVP and Noetix Robotics brought robots of many shapes and sizes. Some wore boxing gloves or headbands. Officials said the race was more like a motorsport event than a real marathon.
Tang Jian, who helps lead the Tiangong lab, said the next step is to make robots useful for real-life jobs. He said they want robots to work in factories, businesses, and homes.
There are no plans to replace professional soccer players with robots, except perhaps for post-match interviews in which robots could probably handle scripted lines pretty well.
Source: Al Jazeera and News Agencies.
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