technology
Honor-Developed Humanoid Robot Completes Beijing Half-Marathon in 50 Minutes, Surpassing Human World Record
A humanoid robot named Lightning, developed by Chinese company Honor, completed the Beijing E-Town Robot Half Marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds on April 19, 2026, surpassing the human world record. The event featured over 100 robots racing on parallel tracks alongside 12,000 human runners. Honor robots claimed the top three spots, marking significant progress from the previous year's race.
Apr 19, 2:44 PM·2m read16 sources
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A humanoid robot named Lightning completed the Beijing E-Town Robot Half Marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds on Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Beijing. 1 kilometers. Lightning was developed by Honor, a Chinese smartphone company.
Lightning's time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds beat the human half-marathon world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds set by Jacob Kiplimo in March 2026 in Lisbon. Dozens of robots participated in the Beijing E-Town Robot Half Marathon.
More than 100 robots participated in the race on parallel tracks to avoid collisions with humans. A total of 300 robots from 102 teams competed in the 2026 race. 47 teams finished the 2026 race. 18 teams used autonomous robots in the 2026 race.
About 40% of participating robots in the 2026 race competed autonomously, according to Beijing’s E-Town tech hub. 60% of participating robots in the 2026 race were remote controlled, according to Beijing’s E-Town tech hub.
12,000 human runners participated in the human half-marathon on parallel tracks. The fastest human runner in the 2026 race finished in 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds. Honor robots took the three podium spots in the 2026 robot race.
A remote-controlled Honor robot finished the 2026 race in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. The second-place autonomous Lightning robot finished in 51 minutes, according to the Associated Press.
Four Lightning robots finished the 2026 race in less than an hour. In the 2025 race, only six out of 21 robots completed the half-marathon.
Lightning was in development for one year, according to Du Xiaodi. Lightning has legs 90 to 95 cm long to mimic elite human runners, according to Du Xiaodi. Lightning uses liquid cooling technology adapted from Honor smartphones, according to Du Xiaodi.
