It looks like twenty-one Chinese robots competing along with human beings in a Beijing half marathon Saturday couldn’t beat serious runners — but a few may be eligible for participation trophies.
The event, hosted by the city’s E-Town tech hub did have a winning robot called Tiangong Ultra among its android competitors. It finished the race in two hours and forty minutes, which would be a respectable time for a human.
However, the winner of the event — a human being — clocked in at one hour and two minutes. Running enthusiasts say event casual runners typically run the race under two hours, one tech publication reported.
The fastest of the metal half marathoners also needed some flesh and blood assistance. A man ran ahead of it with a signaling device on his back, prompting the robot to imitate his movements. In fact, TC Tech Crunch explained, most of the bots were remote controlled, with human operators accompanying them.
Chinese companies as well as student groups built the robots. Not all of them fared well or finished. Only four were able to finish in the four-hour cutoff time. One robot fell at the starting line. Another tripped a human support runner and then crashed into a fence and shattered into metal wreckage.
During the race, a robot called Little Giant, the shortest competitor at 30 inches, paused as smoke emerged from its head.
Courses and race rules prevented collisions or interference with the 12,000 real runners in the event. The robots were required to have a humanoid look and run upright. They had to race in a fenced-off lane. They also had to depart in staggered times to reduce the chance they would collide with each other.
Just as human runners needed to replenish themselves with water, robot “contestants” were allowed to get new batteries during the race. The winner needed three battery changes, according to one report.
Tiangong Ultra, created by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, was able to best its fellow androids because of its “long legs and an algorithm allowing it to imitate how humans run a marathon,” Tang Jian, the center’s chief technology officer, said.
