China played host to what, presumably, was the world’s first robot and human half-marathon. You can check out the action and the Tiangong Ultra robot that won in the video below. The event took place in Beijing and spanned 21.1 km. There was, however, a barrier between lanes for humans and machines.
The human rules were the same as you’d expect, but the robots did need a few concessions, such as battery swap stops. The winning ‘bot crossed the finish line in just over 160 minutes. However, there were awards for endurance, gait design, and design innovation.
Humans still took the top spots, though. We also noted that some of the robots had issues where they lost control or had other problems. Even the winner fell down once and had three battery changes over the course.
Of the 21 robots that started, only six made the finish line. We don’t know how many of the 12,000 humans finished, but we are pretty sure it was more than six, so we don’t think runners have to worry about robot overlords yet. But they’re getting better all the time.
the robot looks like it has to take a #2 soon
Eternally damned to search for an outhouse but never find one
I believe you mean an number 10
Next? the Twiki lookalike bot does Energizer ads
This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but that’s probably cultural. I like the little robot though. I feel like that one would be cool to have at a party or something.
I feel like the concept of fun goes beyond culture.
It makes as much sense as the backward marathons or Grinch runs. It doesn’t need to make sense beyond just being fun.
The appearance of the “sag wagon” is still sad regardless of the humanity of the fallen participant.
Battery changeout? No fair! Disqualified! 🤣
This is a hell of a lot more realistic than any of the boston dynamics or techbro demos recently.
Are these autonomous, or remote-controlled?
Cca 130 years ago there were first contests for motor cars, for me it seems the results were comparable. Now the cars are everywhere.