Humanoid robot beats human half-marathon world record by 7 minutes at Beijing race with 112 teams
By Ana Maria Constantin
Published on April 19, 2026.
A humanoid robot named Lightning completed the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record by nearly seven minutes. The robot was built by Shenzhen Honor Smart Technology Development Co. It navigated the 21-kilometre course autonomously, without remote control, using multi-sensor fusion and real-time decision-making algorithms. The human race was won by Zhao Haijie of China in 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds. The second edition of the Robot World Humanoid Robot Games half-marathon saw over 100 teams competing with autonomous navigation. The event was co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal People’s Government and China Media Group, with over 300 individual robots, including five international teams from Germany, France, and Brazil. Honor, the first major phone company to enter the humanoid robotics market, has committed $10 billion over five years to AI development.
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