Honor robots claim top 3 spots at Beijing half marathon

Humanoid robots displayed speed and endurance to set a new record during the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon on April 19.

Completing the race with a net time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds, the event showcased impressive performance beating the human half marathon record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds.

The event opened on 7:30 am and saw the participation of over 100 teams.

The top three spots were all claimed by robots developed by Honor, with "Lightning", the winning robot, maintaining its lead from the beginning of the race until it clinched victory, followed by the runner-up and the third-place winner.

During the final sprint, "Lightning" collided with a barricade and fell. However, after adjustments by staff it completed the race and successfully crossed the finish line.

Autonomous navigation teams competed alongside remote-controlled teams and were ranked on a unified leaderboard.

The results for the two categories were calculated using weighted coefficients of 1.0 and 1.2, respectively.