Winning robot half-marathon time: 2 h 40 min in 2025, 50 min in 2026, under the human record
The 2026 winner finished in 50:26, under the men's world record of 57:20. But about 60% of the 2026 robots were remote-controlled.
Winning robot time at the Beijing humanoid half-marathon
Official winner's time over 21.1 km at the Beijing E-Town half-marathon, where humanoid robots run alongside (but separate from) people. The line marks the men's world record.
What this measures: How long the fastest official robot took to run a half-marathon in Beijing's annual race for humanoid robots. Lower is faster.
- Winning robot
- Reference level
No new results · last data Apr 2026: The race is held once a year (both editions so far were in April), so the next result will come from the 2027 race.
In 2026 about 40% of the more than 100 robot entrants ran autonomously and about 60% were remote-controlled (Beijing E-Town, via TechCrunch). Robots ran in lanes separated from human runners. The fastest human in the 2025 race finished in 1:02:36. Running speed on a closed course says little about whether a robot can do useful work.
Show data table and sources
| Date | Label | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Apr 2025 | Tiangong Ultra | 2.7 h |
| 19 Apr 2026 | Honor robot (autonomous) | 50 min |
| Men's world record (Jacob Kiplimo, 57:20) | 57 min |
- 'Tiangong Ultra' robot claims victory in world's first humanoid half-marathon (VnExpress International)
- Humans Still Tops: Results of the Human Versus Robot Half Marathon in Beijing (iRunFar)
- Robots beat human records at Beijing half-marathon (TechCrunch)
- Humanoid robot breaks half-marathon world record in Beijing (Al Jazeera)
In April 2025 Beijing held the first half-marathon (21.1 km) open to humanoid robots, run alongside a human race. Of 21 robots that started, six finished. The winner, Tiangong Ultra, took 2 hours 40 minutes 42 seconds and needed three battery changes; each robot had its own support team on the course. The fastest man that day ran 1:02:36.
A year later, on 19 April 2026, more than 100 robots entered. A robot built by the phone maker Honor won in 50 minutes 26 seconds, running autonomously at an average of about 25 km/h. That is faster than the men’s half-marathon world record of 57:20, held by Jacob Kiplimo, and about a third of the 2025 winning time.
What it means
In one year, humanoid robots got much better at moving fast over a long distance. That says little about whether a robot can do useful work at home or in a factory, and most 2026 entrants still had a person steering them remotely.
Caveats
- Most 2026 robots were not running on their own: about 40% ran autonomously and 60% were remote-controlled, according to Beijing’s E-Town tech hub. A remote-controlled Honor robot ran faster (48:19) but did not win under the race’s weighted scoring.
- Robots ran in lanes separated from the human runners, so this was not a head-to-head race, and robot times are not comparable athletics records.
- Running fast on a prepared course is a narrow skill. It says little about whether a robot can do useful work in a home or factory.