This past April, a half-marathon took place in Beijing, China, with some unusual participants. Running alongside thousands of people were 21 human-shaped robots! It was the first race of its kind, meant to showcase the advances that China is making in the field of robotics.
Human engineers trotted beside the robo-racers, ready to change their batteries, keep them on track, and pick them up when they fell (which many did). Only six robots completed the 21.1 kilometer (13.1 mile) course. The winner was the lanky Tiangong Ultra, which finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes. (The first-place human finished in about an hour.) “Most of them broke,” says Alan Fern, a robotics researcher at Oregon State University. “It’s not easy to build a robot that durable.” One robot even lost its head during the race!