Star Performer was a robot developed by the Chinese company Honor (smartphone manufacturer), which completed a 13.1-mile race in 50 minutes, 26 seconds. The human record is 57 minutes, 20 seconds, set by Olympic medalist Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda. The result is an impressive milestone, especially considering that, just a year ago, the fastest robot in this half-marathon event took two and a half hours to complete the same distance.
But Honor’s robot was not the only participant. The event involved more than 100 humanoid robots from 76 institutions across China. Robots lined up alongside 12,000 human runners in Beijing’s E-Town, although on separate courses to avoid accidents. The difference in performance between humans and robots was more than obvious.
Run, Robot, Run
A humanoid robot is designed to mimic the structure and movement of a human body, with legs, arms, and sensors that allow it to interact with its environment. In this case, the winning robot included features inspired by elite runners: long legs (about a meter), advanced balancing systems, and a liquid cooling mechanism similar to smartphones to prevent overheating during races.
Furthermore, many of the participating robots operated autonomously, that is, without direct human control. Thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms, they can adjust their speed, maintain balance and adapt to the terrain in real time. Notably, the Honor robot that achieved the 50-minute mark operates autonomously. The Chinese manufacturer presented another robot operated by remote control, which ran in the same duration and in even less time: 48 minutes, 19 seconds.
As expected, there were some accidents in the race. Some robots fell, others wandered off course, and many required technical assistance along the way. While the physical performance of humanoid robots has advanced rapidly, their reliability is still evolving. Of course, laughter and jeers are not as frequent as they used to be, replaced by applause and expressions of surprise.
robot superiority
Like the robots that went viral for their impressive martial arts displays a few weeks ago, this long-distance race is part of a broader strategy for China to show its leadership in the development of advanced robots.
You don’t need to be a robotics expert to see that this achievement shows that machines can outperform humans at specific physical tasks under controlled conditions. (It’s hard to imagine that the winning robot could achieve the same results, for example, if it started raining during the race.) But humans still have a few tricks up their sleeves: Running in a straight line is very different from performing complex real-world activities, like manipulating delicate objects or interacting socially.
However, it is understandable that the image of a robot crossing the finish line in record time, ahead of human athletes, raises many questions. Is this the beginning of a new era in which machines redefine physical boundaries?
One could argue that cars are machines, and they have always been faster than humans. But a humanoid robot is designed to mimic humans. It’s more worrying to see someone beat humanity at its own game – even if many of them are still tripping over themselves.
This story originally appeared in WIRED en Español and is translated from Spanish.
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