The winning robot ran the half marathon nearly seven minutes faster than the current human record set by Jacob Kiplimo.

A premapped course, a crew of handlers and a world-beating time: here’s what this Beijing half marathon reveals about how far humanoid robots have come—and how far they haven’t ...

In Beijing, a humanoid robot named Lightning finished a half marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record by nearly 7 minutes.

A humanoid robot runs among human participants during a half marathon event in Beijing, captured by staff photographer Han ...

BEIJING — It was not even close as a bright red Chinese humanoid named “Lightning” lived up to its name in a half-marathon pitting humans against robots, smoking its competition on Sunday ...

An autonomous robot from the company Honor ran a half marathon in 50:26, beating the human record by 7 minutes.

BEIJING, China — Humanoid robot technology has greatly improved in the past year, and a race Sunday proved just how far the science has advanced. Just a year ago, robots trailed behind humans for ...

They were trailing behind their human rivals a year ago. But on Sunday, an android outpaced the entire field to run a half-marathon faster than even the quickest human. Lightning, a running robot ...

Some robots ran the Beijing half-marathon autonomously, while others were controlled remotely, all competing on a parallel course to avoid collisions with human athletes.

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker ...