A world half-marathon record was broken at a race in China this weekend. But the winner wasn't an Olympian or even a competitive racer. It was a bright red humanoid robot. Nickname? Lightning.
The autonomous robot was competing in a robot versus human half-marathon race in Beijing, China, an annual event featuring the country's top robotics companies in a foot race test against their human counterparts.
Lightning was built by Honor, a Chinese robotics and smartphone maker. The company tested other running robot variants at the race, including the bots that took home second- and third-place titles.
Mashable got an early look at Honor's new line of AI-powered humanoid bots at the latest Mobile World Congress. The bots had an impressive stability (many of these two-legged bots are prone to tumbling) and even a crowd-pleasing dance performance. The company also debuted a new "Robot Phone," featuring a robotic eye and arm that juts out from the smartphone to take photos and respond to requests.
Mashable Light Speed
During Sunday's race, the company showed that the new era of humanoid robots aren't just dancers, but competitive athletes, with Lightning taking home the gold in a 50-minute and 26-second sprint — that's six minutes quicker than the fastest human and nearly two hours faster than its time in last year's race. Honor engineers explained that the robot's fast upgrade came from modeling its design after top athletes, including elongated legs and an internal liquid-cooling system.
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Chinese robotics companies have been accelerating their development of humanoid robots over the last several years in direct competition with U.S. manufacturers. Lightning's record-breaking win was taken as a sign that the country's investments may be paying off.
Still, many of the robots needed assistance to cross the finish line. In addition to starting line stumbles and a few falls, about 60 percent of the competing bots were remotely operated by their human teams.
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