Stumbling and Overheating, Most Humanoid Robots Fail to Finish Half Marathon in Beijing
1 min read
Summary
In a half marathon in Beijing on 18th September, 21 humanoid robots took part alongside the approximately 12,000 human runners, though they competed on separate tracks.
The robots were required to be bipedal as a qualification for participation in the event, with the fastest robot, Tiangong Ultra, taking 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete the race, and the slowest human runner taking 3 hours and 10 minutes.
The robots faced a number of difficulties, such as overheating and falling, with many requiring replacement parts or damage repair during the race, and some even being fitted with duct tape.
Alan Fern, a robotics professor at Oregon State University, said that while the race wasn’t a very useful benchmark for the skills of the robots, it did show off the robustness of humanoid hardware, which has developed significantly in recent years.
Among the crowd favourites was the shortest robot, which was just 2 feet and 5 inches tall, while the tallest was Tiangong Ultra at 5 feet 9 inches.
