The winning robot from Honor — a Chinese smartphone manufacturer — completed the 21-kilometer run in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, according to a post on the Chinese social network WeChat from the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began.
The robot was faster than Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, the current human world record holder, who covered the same distance in around 57 minutes in March.
The performance represented a significant improvement over last year’s inaugural race, when the winning robot completed the course in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.
The scale of this year’s event was almost five times larger than that of 2025, with more than 100 teams participating in the competition, including five from abroad.
However, the race was not without incident — one robot fell at the start line and another crashed into a barrier.
Beijing E-Town reported that around 40% of the robots completed the route autonomously, while the rest were controlled remotely.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that a robot acted as a traffic agent, guiding participants with gestures and voice commands.
Beijing’s latest five-year plan promises to “advance the frontiers of science and technology.” Accelerating the development of products such as humanoid robots is part of the 2026-2030 plan for the world’s second largest economy.
Source: www.noticiasaominuto.com.br
