The world’s first humanoid half-marathon took place in Beijing, capital of China, involving 12,000 people running across 13 miles (21 kilometres), and a number of 21 humanoid robots – where there was a demarcation of a separate line between the 21,000 people and the 21 humanoids.
Being the first of its kind, it hosted different types of humanoid robots built and developed in different shapes and sizes by several robotics companies. Amongst the robots were N2, an over-40 pound Noetix Robotics’ humanoid, which was about 3 feet tall; and the Unitree Robotics’ G1 model, weighing nearly 80 pounds and standing over 4 feet tall.
There was also another robot in the race who was modeled after a woman’s face, and all 21 humanoid robots were accompanied by their human handlers.
6 out of the 21 humanoid robots involved in the race were able to cross the finish line, with Tiangong Ultra, designed by Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, finishing in 2 hours and 40 minutes, an hour and a half behind the winner of the 21,000 people race who completed it in 1 hour and 2 minutes.
Tiangong Ultra also beat the expectations many operators and industry analysts had for the two-legged robots, as they were given approximately 3 and a half hours to complete the race. Tiangong Ultra’s performance was supported by long legs and an algorithm that allowed it to imitate how humans run a marathon, said Tang Jian, Chief Technology Officer for the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center.
The announcement of the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon touted that the robot marathoners were “undergoing intensive training, including late-night endurance drills.” In the announcement, questions such as “Can batteries or robots be replaced mid-race? Will there be aid stations for robots along the route? How are prizes and rankings decided?” and many more were addressed.
It was advised that every team should complete the race with just one robot, and most importantly, without battery swaps. However, battery swaps and the deploying of backup robots were still allowed, as the robots may need to operate at higher power outputs to boost speed to complete the race. Also, poor conditions such as strong winds or unexpected disruptions might occur, thereby increasing the need for the deployment of a backup.
Some of the humanoid robots indeed fell over, with some even going as far as spinning out of control and taking their human handlers down with them.
As reported by Smithsonian magazine, Tiangong Ultra fell once, and its human handlers switched out its batteries three times during the race.
Beyond these challengers, industry analysts were happy watching the evolution of this technology albeit its current limitations. He Sishu, a spectator working in Artificial Intelligence (AI) tells Reuters that “The robots are running very well, very stable… I feel I’m witnessing the evolution of robots and AI.”
However, this technological innovation goes beyond this marathon show-off. Until people start to see these two-legged robots demonstrate useful real-time applications such as house-cleaning and/or other day-to-day activities usually performed by a human being, it probably won’t go beyond the current panic of humanoid technology taking over the world – it’ll remain at the panic stage.
But it is also possible it moves ahead of this as Tang Jian tells Reuters, “a focus going forward for us will be industrial applications for humanoid robots so they can truly enter factories, business scenarios and finally households.” Maybe by then, the fear will become valid.
