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Agence France-Presse

Reuters

Step by mechanical step, dozens of humanoid robots took to the streets of Beijing on Saturday, joining thousands of their flesh-and-blood counterparts in a world-first half-marathon showcasing China’s drive to lead the global race in cutting-edge technology.
The 21km (13-mile) Yizhuang half-marathon in the Chinese capital’s E-Town – a state-backed hub for hi-tech manufacturing – was billed as a groundbreaking effort to test the limits of bipedal robots in real-world conditions.
At the crack of the starter’s gun, the robots queued up one by one and took their first tentative steps.
Curious human runners lined up on their side of the road and waited patiently with mobile phones at the ready to shoot each machine as they prepared to depart.

One smaller-sized android, which fell over and lay on the ground for several minutes, got up by itself to loud cheers.
Another, powered by propellers and designed to look like a Transformer, veered across the starting line before crashing into a barrier and knocking over an engineer.
“Getting onto the racetrack might seem like a small step for humans, but it’s a giant leap for humanoid robots,” Liang Liang, Beijing E-Town’s management committee deputy director, said before the event. Nearby, engineers jogged alongside their machines.
“The marathon helps push humanoid robots one step closer toward industrialisation.”
Around 20 teams from across China were taking part, with robots ranging from 75 to 180cm (about 2½ to 6ft) tall and weighing up to 88kg (194lbs).
Some ran autonomously, while others were guided remotely by engineers, some of whom had to physically support the machines during the race.
A few of the robots wore running shoes, with one donning boxing gloves and another wearing a red headband with the words “bound to win” in Chinese.

The winning robot was Tiangong Ultra, from the Beijing Innovation Centre of Human Robotics, with a time of two hours and 40 minutes. The men’s winner of the race had a time of 1:02.
Tang Jian, chief technology officer for the robotics centre, said Tiangong Ultra’s performance was aided by long legs and an algorithm allowing it to imitate how humans run a marathon.
“I don’t want to boast, but I think no other robotics firms in the West have matched Tiangong’s sporting achievements,” Tang said, adding that the robot switched batteries just three times during the race.
Engineers said the goal was to test the performance and reliability of the androids, emphasising that finishing the race, not winning it, was the main objective.
“I think it’s a big boost for the entire robotics industry,” Cui Wenhao, a 28-year-old engineer at Noetix Robotics, said of the half-marathon.
“Honestly, there are very few opportunities for the whole industry to run at full speed over such a long distance or duration. It’s a serious test for the battery, the motors, the structure, even the algorithms.”

Cui said as part of its training, a humanoid robot had been running a half-marathon every day, at a pace of about seven minutes per kilometre.
Another engineer, 25-year-old Kong Yichang from DroidUp, said the race would help to “lay a foundation for a whole series of future activities involving humanoid robots”.
“The significance [of the race] lies in the fact that humanoid robots can truly integrate into human society and begin doing things that humans do.”


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A robot crosses the finish line in the half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday. Photo: AFP

A robot and its engineers run in the humanoid race in Beijing. Photo: AFP

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A robot loses control at the start of the half-marathon. Photo: AFP

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Outdoor

Some robots wear running shoes, others fall over, but Yizhuang race in Beijing’s E-Town showcases country’s growing robotics industry


Some robots wear running shoes, others fall over, but Yizhuang race in Beijing’s E-Town showcases country’s growing robotics industry.


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