World’s First Robot Half-Marathon Proves Humanoid Robots Have a Long Way to Go

Beijing recently held the so-called “world’s first humanoid robot half marathon,” but instead of putting humans to shame, the participating robots only showed off their weaknesses.

Robotics companies, especially Chinese ones, have been busy showing off their revolutionary creations, like SE01, a robot capable of mimicking a natural gait, Star1 – the world’s fastest robot, or the NEO Gamma, an AI-powered humanoid butler, but a recent running event held in Beijing proved that they still have a long way to go. The 2025 Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon featured a special running lane for the 21 different robots registered to take part in what was marketed as the world’s first-ever humanoid robot half-marathon. It was supposed to showcase the huge progress made by Chinese robotics companies, but judging by some media reports, the event was a massive failure.

On April 20th, at around 7:30, 21 robots from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Suzhou set off to complete their first-ever official half-marathon, but the dreams of the human handlers accompanying them quickly turned to dust. Most Chinese media outlets only focused on the positive, reporting that the robots took part in the event, but NDTV went into detail on how they actually performed.

It turns out that some of the humanoid robots behaved strangely from the start, spinning in place instead of following the course of the half-marathon, while others began to fall after covering a distance of around 80 meters or so. A viral collage shot during the race shows robots tripping and literally losing their heads, as their human escorts scramble to pick them up.

Some robots started exhibiting signs of dementia, either freezing in place or changing direction and heading for the side of the course, despite their handlers’ best efforts to stop them. Even those that stayed the course were ridiculed because of their snail-like pace, which had human escorts slowly walking behind the robots as scores of human runners passed them by. Even the robot that crossed the finish line needed several stops to have its battery replaced, which suggests that its battery life isn’t fantastic.

“It’s just walking a marathon, can it be considered running?” one person asked on Weibo.

“This event proves that humanoid robots are now used for comedy,” someone else commented.

One thing is for sure, as always, marketing is very different than real life! Humanoid roboots may seem ultra-advanced in edited footage and staged events, but the world’s first humanoid robot half-marathon was proof that the industry still has a lot to work on.