Runners who complete a half marathon in Beijing later this year will do so with unusual metal competition aside. More than 12,000 human runners will face off against dozens of bipedal humanoid robots from more than 20 companies on a 13-mile course, according to a press release from China’s Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. Prizes will be awarded to the top three, whether human or humanoid. But robots will be given the jobs they deserve. To date, no bipedal robot has successfully completed such a long race, let alone competed against experienced human runners. The announcement was first reported by the South China Morning Post.
(Related: Why animals run faster than their robot doppelgangers…for now)
There are several requirements that a robot jogger must meet. First of all, they need to look vaguely human. This means two legs and a mechanical structure that can perform bipedal functions such as walking upright and running. These guidelines exclude highly capable quadrupedal robots like Boston Dynamics’ Spot and KAIST’s RAIBO2, which ran a full marathon in just over four hours last year. Wheels are also prohibited. In terms of size, Etown says the humanoid must be between 1.6 and 6.5 feet tall, with a maximum extension of at least 0.45 meters from the hip to the sole of the foot. Importantly, robots do not need to be fully autonomous to compete. Teams are allowed to control their cars remotely, which could be welcome news if Tesla decides to send an Optimus bot into the race.
Robots are already running and some robots are faster than others
Humanoid robots have already proven that they can sometimes run very fast. Last year, a team of engineers at Oregon State University set a Guinness World Record for the fastest 100-meter dash by a machine with a bipedal robot that doesn’t look like a human. In China, humanoid robots from Robot Era and Unitree Robotics have been reported to reach maximum running speeds of 8 mph and 11.38 mph, respectively. Tiangong, a humanoid robot developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, actually appeared at the half marathon finish line last year, but was unable to complete the course. Still, none of these robots can come close to human sprinter Usain Bolt’s record speed of 44.33 mph.
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Outside of events like this, humanoid robots are primarily designed with two primary use cases in mind: manufacturing and caregiving. Chinese humanoid robots have reportedly already been installed at BYD’s car factories, but it’s unclear exactly how much work they’ve actually completed. China is not alone in this respect. Last year, BMW announced it would hire humanoid robots from Figure AI to work at its South Carolina manufacturing facility. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also suggested that his company’s Optimus robot could one day work with humans to build future electric cars. But for now, Optimus in particular seems best at admiring eggs and doing light gymnastics.
However, not all races in April may be interesting. Government-backed challenges and competitions have a history of fostering research innovation in the future. One example is DARPA’s 2007 “Grand Challenge,” which pitted some of the top engineering minds of the day against each other to develop an autonomous vehicle that could drive itself through the desert. Self-driving car experts previously told Popular Science that the challenge caught the attention of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and planted the seeds for what would become Waymo. .
One of the robots running in Beijing could follow a similar path. Or it could turn you upside down. Either way, we’ll be watching with interest.
