A humanoid robot beats the human world record in the half marathon, in Beijing.

A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record, highlighting China’s technological advancements.

The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, completed the 21-kilometer race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, according to a message on WeChat by the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, also known as E-Town, where the race took place.

This time was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who ran the same distance in about 57 minutes in March during the Lisbon road race.

The robot’s performance marked a significant improvement from last year’s inaugural race, where the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds.

However, the competition, which ran parallel to a human race, was not without incidents: one robot collapsed at the starting line, and another hit a barrier.

Du Xiaodi, an engineer at Honor, expressed satisfaction with the results. He explained that their robot’s design was inspired by exceptional human athletes, with long legs approximately 95 centimeters, and equipped with a powerful liquid cooling system developed internally.

E-Town Beijing stated that about 40% of the robots autonomously completed the circuit, while others were remotely controlled.

In China, technology has become a competitive field with the United States, having implications for national security. Beijing’s latest five-year plan aims to “target the frontiers of science and technology,” accelerating the development of products like humanoid robots and their applications as part of the 2026-2030 plan for the world’s second-largest economy.

Research and technology consulting group Omdia in London recently ranked three Chinese companies – AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics, and UBTech Robotics – as the only top-tier suppliers of intelligent robots globally for general use. According to the report, all three companies delivered over 1,000 units of these robots last year, with the top two companies delivering over 5,000 units.