At the end of the week in Chinaa person with personality robot broke the half marathon world record—the human record—by seven minutes.
The star actor was a robot developed by the Chinese company Honor (the smartphone manufacturer), which completed the 13.1-mile race in 50 minutes, 26 seconds. The human record set by Ugandan Olympic medalist Jacob Kiplimo is 57 minutes and 20 seconds. The result marks an especially impressive feat considering that, just one year ago, the fastest robot in this half-marathon event. it took two and a half hours to complete the same distance.
But the Honor robot was not the only participant. The event included more than 100 humanoid robots from 76 institutions across China. The robots lined up alongside 12,000 human runners in Beijing’s E-Town, albeit on separate courses to avoid accidents. The difference in performance between humans and robots was more noticeable.
Run, Robot, Run
The humanoid robot is designed to mimic the structure and movement of the human body, with legs, arms and sensors that allow it to interact with its environment. In this case, the winning robot included features inspired by elite runners: long legs (about a meter), high balance systems, and a liquid cooling mechanism, similar to that of a smartphone, to prevent overheating during running.
In addition, most of the participating robots worked autonomously, meaning without direct human control. Thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms, they can adjust their speed, maintain balance, and adapt to the terrain in real time. In particular, the Honor robot that scored 50 minutes worked independently. The Chinese manufacturer presented another robot, operated by remote control, which went the same way in a shorter time: 48 minutes, 19 seconds.
As expected, there were several accidents in the race. Some robots fell to the ground, some went off course, and several needed technical support along the way. Although the physical performance of humanoid robots has advanced rapidly, their reliability is still a work in progress. Of course, laughter and mockery are not as frequent as they used to be, replaced by applause and shouts of surprise.
Robot quality
Just like the robots that went viral for their impressive martial arts performances a few weeks agoThis long-distance race is part of China’s broader strategy to demonstrate its leadership in the development of advanced robotics.
You don’t need to be a roboticist to see that these achievements show that machines can outperform humans in specific physical tasks under controlled conditions. (It’s hard to imagine that a winning robot could achieve the same result, for example, if it started raining during the race.) But humans still have a few tricks up their sleeve: Running in a straight line is very different from performing complex real-world tasks, such as manipulating delicate objects or interacting socially.
However, it is understood that the image of a robot crossing the finish line in record time, in front of human athletes, raises several questions. Is this the beginning of a new era in which machines redefine physical boundaries?
One can say that the car is a machine, and they have been faster than humans. But a humanoid robot is designed to mimic humans. It’s even more terrifying to see one humanity win its own game—even if most of them are still stumbling.
This story has appeared before WIRED in Spanish and translated from Spanish.
