China Claims Win in First Ever Race Between Humans And Robots

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Chinese state media carried glowing praise of the country’s technological progress on Monday, as humanoid robots finished their first-ever race against humans in Beijing over the weekend.

State-backed newspapers, the Global Times, Xinhua and China Daily covered everything from the half-marathon itself to its coverage abroad — in the US and in India — while also hailing the race as a “historic” event and a “breakthrough”.

“China’s strategic focus on humanoid robotics signals its resolve to lead the next industrial revolution,” read one editorial in state-backed China Daily, which claimed robotics was China’s answer to everything from building supply chain resilience to tackling demographic challenges.

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“As China’s workforce ages and labour costs rise, humanoid robots could fill critical roles in factories, eldercare and hazardous environments,” the editorial said.

And “by localising production of core components like high-torque motors and advanced sensors, China aims to insulate itself from geopolitical disruptions,” it went on to add.

An editorial in the Global Times, meanwhile, seemed to take the opportunity to throw some shade on the United States’ ongoing trade and technology war against China.

The editorial made no direct reference to the US, but repeated Beijing’s oft-repeated stance on “mutual exchange” and “win-win cooperation”.

“On the path of technological innovation, no one can advance alone,” the editorial concluded, after comparing human society to a marathon, where different nations drive “overall progress through collaboration.”

The editorial also claimed that “China’s goal in developing robotics is not to compete with any other major power but to continually challenge itself, surpass limits, and benefit humanity.”

In contrast, however, the China Daily editorial claimed the marathon spoke to “China’s determination to close the gap with Western rivals like Boston Dynamics and Tesla.”

An ‘open’ China

The razzmatazz of the state-backed editorials stems from the fact this was the first ever race that pit humanoids against humans.

While humanoid robots have made appearances at marathons in China over the past year, this is the first time they have actually raced alongside humans.

The half-marathon was held on Saturday and broadcast live, showing 21 humanoid robots — many of them developed by state-backed firms and researchers — running alongside thousands of human runners over a 21-kilometre course.

A few of the robots wore running shoes, with one donning boxing gloves and another wearing a red headband with the words “Bound to Win” in Chinese.

But, interestingly most of the robots flailed and sputtered. One robot fell at the starting line and lay flat for a few minutes before getting up and taking off. One crashed into a railing after running a few metres, causing its human operator to fall over.

A robot falls over during the half-marathon. Photo: Screenshot / YouTube, Reuters

Almost every robot fell down and faced overheating problems, Wired Magazine noted in a report. Meanwhile, all robots needed several battery swaps over the course of the marathon, the Global Times noted.

But the state news site was quick to note that the struggles amid the humanoids to complete the race was due to the tech being an “extremely complex field” and that the marathon was actually a “meaningful” event to show developers what improvements they needed to make to enable commercialisation of the technology.

State media was also seen hailing Beijing’s decision to broadcast the race live and ‘unedited’ — a development that is indeed surprising considering the authoritarian Chinese government is known to use significant public events such as these to carefully manage its image.

“Behind this “imperfect” robot half-marathon is the mature atmosphere of tolerance, understanding and acceptance of failure that has developed in Chinese society from top to bottom,” the Global Times enthused.

State-private partnership

China Daily, meanwhile, claimed in its editorial that the “public, large-scale event” mirrored the country’s ambition to create a “collaborative ecosystem” where state-backed entities work with private firms for quicker R&D.

Engineers run with the humanoid robot “Noetix N2” in the half marathon. Photo: Reuters

The robots in Saturday’s marathon were all shapes and sizes, some shorter than 120cm (3.9 ft), others as tall as 1.8 metres (5.9 ft). One company boasted that its robot looked almost human, with feminine features and the ability to wink and smile.

Their manufacturers included private tech firms such as DroidUP and Noetix, but also state-backed Beijing Innovation Centre of Human Robotics, whose robot Tiangong Ultra won in the humanoid category.

Tiangong Ultra finished the race in 2 hours and 40 minutes, more than an hour behind the men’s winner of the race who wrapped up his run in 1 hour and 2 minutes.

The Beijing innovation centre, set up in 2023, is 43% owned by two state-owned enterprises, while tech giant Xiaomi’s robotics arm and leading Chinese humanoid robot firm UBTech have an equal share in the rest.

A breakthrough, really?

Tang Jian, chief technology officer for the robotics centre, said Tiangong Ultra’s performance was aided by long legs and an algorithm allowing it to imitate how humans run a marathon.

“I don’t want to boast but I think no other robotics firms in the West have matched Tiangong’s sporting achievements,” Tang said.

But contrary to Tang and Chinese state media’s excitement, analysts question whether having robots enter marathons is a reliable indicator of their industrial potential.

Alan Fern, professor of computer science, artificial intelligence and robotics at Oregon State University, told Reuters that contrary to claims from Beijing officials that such a race requires “AI breakthroughs”, the software enabling humanoid robots to run was developed and demonstrated more than five years ago.

“Chinese companies have really focused on showing off walking, running, dancing, and other feats of agility.

“Generally, these are interesting demonstrations, but they don’t demonstrate much regarding the utility of useful work or any type of basic intelligence,” Fern said.