On April 19, 2025, the Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon, featuring the world’s first Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, kicked off. Twenty robot teams from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Ningxia, and other regions competed alongside running enthusiasts over the official 21.0975 km course.

At 10:11 AM, the Tiangong robot crossed the finish line first, completing the race in approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes to claim the championship. The winning robot, “Tiangong Ultra”, stands about 1.8 meters tall, weighs 55 kg, and maintained a pace of 7–8 km/h throughout the race. The development team overcame multiple hardware challenges, including robot stability, lightweight design, and joint overheating, while optimizing motion control algorithms. Tiangong Ultra is equipped with the “Huisi Kaiwu” universal embodied intelligence platform, supporting multi-functional and multi-robot coordination, making the robot smarter and more adaptive.

The marathon course passed through Nanhaizi Park, Pao Tong Avenue, Wenbo Bridge, and Tongming Lake Park, covering both flat terrains and slopes with a maximum gradient of 9°. While the course was relatively smooth, every bump and incline tested the robots’ stability and power systems.

Along Pao Tong Avenue, human runners and robots ran side by side under blooming paulownia trees. Spectators cheered enthusiastically and took photos, exclaiming: “We want to see them! Love to see them!”

Behind Tiangong Ultra, other robots competed fiercely: “Little Rascal” chased closely, “Whirlwind Boy” gave it all, and some robots even wore sun hats. In addition to awarding champion, runner-up, and third place, organizers recognized robots for endurance, popularity, gait, and design innovation.

This humanoid robot half marathon served as an extreme testbed, validating technical maturity, highlighting areas for improvement, and even driving innovation. As one media commentary noted, “When humanoid robots cross the marathon finish line, the industrial marathon of the intelligent era is just beginning.” Every step taken by these robots is a leap forward in technology.

In reality, the true finish line is beyond the 21 km course, and the competition isn’t merely about humans versus robots. This event showcased how human-robot symbiosis, once a science-fiction concept, is gradually becoming a reality in everyday life. The future is here—let’s look forward to it!