After a weeklong delay due to inclement weather, the 2025 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon in Beijing, China, finally took place on April 19. This was the first showdown between humanoid robots and brave human participants to see who was truly born to run. Nearly 12,000 eager human runners competed against 21 humanoid robots, and it is safe to say that this race was not even close. While most human participants were from China, we understand that the women’s and men’s winners were both from Ethiopia, with times of 1:11:07 and 1:02:36, respectively.
But even with a dramatically slower performance, the humanoid robot winner Tiangong Ultra, which made it to the finish line in 2:40, stole the show. The cutoff race time for humans was 3:10, and Tiangong Ultra was the only robot to finish within the allotted time, while only six robots even finished the 13.1 mile course. At the time of writing, curiously, still no robot has penned a lengthy “why I DNFed” Instagram post.
Tiangong Ultra winning the humanoid robot category at the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon. Photo: VCG/VCG via AP
For those living in fear of artificial intelligence and humanoid robots taking over the world, take heart. Pre-race nerves clearly got to some of the humanoid robots on the starting line, with some almost immediately falling over, walking into barriers, and perhaps concerningly, one even knocked over its human “parents.” Just as the human competitors needed to replenish themselves during the race, the robots frequently needed to stop to recharge, or even replace, batteries. In fact, the winner, Tiangong Ultra, needed three battery replacements. Some of the robots bonked so hard in the middle of the race you might have confused them for the elite men’s field at UTMB.
Human half marathon runners taking photos of the humanoid robot competitors. Photo: VCG/VCG via AP
Throughout the live broadcast of the race, the commentator informed viewers about the hardships faced by humanoid robot runners, including joints overheating in warmer weather and batteries swiftly losing power in cooler weather. The slippery paved surface was also a grave concern to the humanoid robot competitors, with some even wearing running shoes over their robot feet. It was not clear if the robots were wearing carbon-plated running shoes or not.
The size of humanoid robot competitors was hotly debated, with smaller robots being more energy efficient, but lacking the stride length of their larger and more energy-consuming robot siblings. It appears that the race winner, Tiangong Ultra, at 5 foot, 10 inches in height may have struck the balance just right. However, some of the smallest robots left lasting impressions and endeared themselves to the human spectators, with many human racers paused mid-race to take photos or videos of the most adorable robots. The shortest of the humanoid robot competitors at only 30 inches, Little Giant, regularly waved to the crowd, but at one point was stopped in its tracks with smoke emerging from its head.
One of the humanoid robots taking a spill. The winner of the “best hydraulic fluid” award is yet unknown. Photo: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
In the end, the feeling of the team at iRunFar, is that perhaps these humanoid robot runners are not yet something to be feared, and instead fostered more of a feeling of admiration and respect as they attempt to reach the level of their human counterparts. We can only hope that winning hearts and minds is not at all part of the grand humanoid robot plan for world domination, because otherwise, it’s working.
For those really interested in how this race went, here’s the full livestream:
