On Saturday, Beijing had a momentous first. More than 5,000 human runners competed alongside 21 of the most advanced humanoid robots in a one-of-a-kind half-marathon face-off. The competition, hosted in Yizhuang, was an exciting demonstration of the growing confluence of athletics and technology. The human competitors crushed their mechanical challengers. In fact, the men’s winner completed the course more than an hour ahead of the fastest robot.
Robotic designs from Chinese companies like DroidVP and Noetix Robotics displayed cutting edge innovations. Among the entrants, many of these bots wore boxing gloves and headbands, injecting a fun vibe into the competitive contest. Even with their state-of-the-art technology, the robots hardly stood a chance against the competitive human runners.
Tang Jian, the Chief Technology Officer in Tiangong’s laboratory, recently made an announcement that’s got us all buzzing. The Tiangong Ultra robot, created by the Beijing Innovation Centre of Human Robotics, finished the race in a speedy 2 hours and 40 minutes. This still was not enough to match the speedy human racers. Their lead was never in doubt for the duration of the competition.
He Sishu, a local AI engineer watching from the sidelines, said he was impressed by the robots’ showing.
“The robots are running very well, very stable… I feel I’m witnessing the evolution of robots and AI.” – He Sishu
The event captured huge public and media attention, showcasing the state-of-the-art in robotics and artificial intelligence. It wasn’t all rosy for the robots. One bot went down literally seconds after the starting pistol, motionless on the floor for a few minutes before eventually popping back up on its feet.
Alan Fern, an associate professor of robotics at Oregon State University, noted when DOTs support demonstrations like this, it’s significant.
“These demonstrations are interesting.” – Alan Fern
As the race came to an end, Tang Jian gave us a glimpse of what’s to come from robotics.
“A focus going forward will be industrial applications … so they can truly enter factories, business scenarios, and finally households.” – Tang Jian
This ground-breaking event highlighted the amazing potential of humanoid robots. It underscored our amazing, exciting, and difficult road towards incorporating robotics into our daily lives. As technology advances, it’s still unclear how these robots will be able to overcome real-world obstacles outside of athletic arenas.
