The Chinese mainland has released new competition rules for the world’s first humanoid robot half-marathon, part of the Beijing E-Town race this Sunday. This pioneering event marks a milestone in embodied AI and bipedal robotics.
Participants will guide their robots across a 21-kilometer course, requiring roughly 250,000 precise joint movements. Teams must navigate battery swaps at designated supply stations to avoid time penalties, while full robot replacements also incur added seconds.
"The competition adopts a comprehensive timing method to calculate the final scores of participating teams, which is determined by subtracting any penalty time for rule violations from the total time taken from the starting point to the finish line," explained Wang Guolin, deputy head of the robot group of the half-marathon race.
For business and tech enthusiasts, this race showcases rapid advances in autonomous mobility and energy management. Executing a quarter million joint actions highlights how far robotics has come—and where it could go next.
Thought leaders and changemakers will watch for lessons in collaboration and rule-based innovation as embodied AI intersects with real-world challenges. Meanwhile, sports and entertainment fans may find a new type of competition to follow.
As robots take to the track, young global citizens and digital nomads alike can glimpse the future of tech-driven sport—and imagine the possibilities for a world where machines and humans run side by side.
Reference(s):
New rules defined for world's 1st humanoid robot half-marathon
cgtn.com
